NHS bowel cancer screening checks if you could have bowel cancer. It’s available to everyone aged 60 to 74 years.
The programme is expanding to make it available to everyone aged 50 to 59 years. This is happening gradually over 4 years and started in April 2021.
You use a home test kit, called a faecal immunochemical test (FIT), to collect a small sample of poo and send it to a lab. This is checked for tiny amounts of blood.
Blood can be a sign of polyps or bowel cancer. Polyps are growths in the bowel. They are not cancer, but may turn into cancer over time.
If the test finds anything unusual, you might be asked to go to hospital to have further tests to confirm or rule out cancer.
Always see a GP if you have symptoms of bowel cancer at any age, even if you have recently completed a NHS bowel cancer screening test kit – do not wait to have a screening test.
Please see https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/bowel-cancer-screening/ for further information on the screening process.
We are currently sending out text messages to our patients who have not responded yet to a bowel screening invitation. If you receive the following text message, this is a legitimate message from the Combe Coastal Practice:
Dear <firstname> <Surname>
You are now eligible for bowel screening. We recommend screening to all
eligible patients. Please email [email protected] or call 0800 7076060. See Combe Coastal website new for info.
PLEASE DO NOT PHONE THE SURGERY REGARDING THIS TEXT MESSAGE AS THIS CAUSESE HIG
