JUST OVER 61 per cent of adults aged between 60 and 74 in South Worcestershire are taking advantage of the free bowel cancer screening test kit they are sent in the post by the NHS.

While this might fall well short of the ideal figure, it is in fact the second highest uptake figure in the West Midlands and well above the national average of 56.4 per cent.

But Public Health England has a target to increase the number of people across the country using this free screening programme to 75 per cent. By reaching this figure it would be able to make early diagnoses in many more cases and potentially save many more lives.

The national bowel cancer screening programme started in England in 2006 and since then millions of the home test kits have been returned for analysis and more than 25,000 cancers have been detected.

Bowel Cancer UK, the UK’s leading bowel cancer research charity, is encouraging people living in the region to take part in the screening programme as part of Bowel Cancer Awareness Month in April.

According to the charity, in April alone across the UK nearly 3,500 people will be diagnosed with bowel cancer and more than 1,300 people will die of the disease. It’s the nation’s second biggest cancer killer, however it shouldn’t be. It’s treatable and curable - especially if diagnosed early.

The screening programme can detect bowel cancer at an early stage in people with no symptoms. Anyone registered with a GP and aged between 60 and 74 in England will receive a test kit in the post every two years.

The programme currently uses the guaiac-based faecal occult blood test (gFOBt), which is used to collect samples from three bowel motions. It comes with step by step instructions and the samples are sent to a lab and examined for hidden traces of blood in the stool.

If positive, the person is invited to a screening practitioner consultation, to discuss the need for further investigations by way of a colonoscopy.

Meta-data analysis from three randomised controlled trials found that bowel cancer mortality was reduced by 16 per cent in populations offered gFOBt screening compared with populations not offered screening.

The Herefordshire & Worcestershire Bowel Cancer Screening Programme (which is part of the national programme) was established in 2009. Since it started more than half a million test kits have been distributed and the uptake of the local screening centre exceeds the national target of 60 per cent.

Over that time 5,077 diagnostic investigations have been undertaken through the endoscopy and radiology units in both counties. These investigations have found 4,188 pre-cancerous polyps and in addition, 453 cancers have been detected and treated.

The Government has announced the introduction of a simpler and more accurate testing kit for people to use at home. The Herefordshire & Worcestershire Bowel Cancer Screening Programme took part in the pilot study for the new test kit, which it believes will be introduced into the programme next year.

Herefordshire & Worcestershire Bowel Cancer Screening Centre also started the relatively new Bowel Scope Screening in January 2016. Bowel Scope Screening – a one-off test offered to men and women at the age of 55 - finds and removes any small bowel growths called polyps that could eventually turn into cancer.

Bowel Scope Screening is gradually being rolled out, with all county GP practices expected to be included over the next two years. To date 194 pre-cancerous polyps have been removed during Bowel Scope Screening and four cancers have been detected and treated.

Dr Carl Ellson, chief clinical officer for NHS South Worcestershire Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “Bowel cancer is one of the most common types of cancer in the UK, with over 40,000 new cases diagnosed every year.

“It’s important that anyone experiencing a persistent change in bowel habits, blood in stools, abdominal pain or a lump in the abdomen visits their GP as soon as possible. The chances are it will be nothing serious, but the earlier it’s checked out, the sooner treatment can start if it is cancer.

“A number of factors can increase the likelihood of getting cancers, such as bowel cancer, including diet, weight, drinking alcohol or smoking and family history.

“Age is also a big factor, with nine in 10 cases of bowel cancer occurring in people over 60 years old. Therefore I’d encourage anyone over 60 to take up their invitation to take part in the screening.”

Mark Flannagan, chief executive of Beating Bowel Cancer, said: “We can make bowel cancer a cancer that almost no one dies from. Screening is the best way to do this because it can detect signs of the cancer before there are any visible symptoms.

“If we want to continue to reduce the number of deaths from this awful disease, we need to see as many people as possible screened and any abnormal tests followed up promptly, so that patients are diagnosed and treated at the earliest possible stage.”

• The bowel cancer screening uptake rate in South Worcestershire is currently 61.4 per cent; in the Wyre Forest area is 61.3 per cent; in Redditch and Bromsgrove it is 59.2 per cent and in Herefordshire it is 60.7 per cent.

• The lowest uptake rate is around 37 per cent in the London Borough of Newham while the highest uptake rate is nearly 65 per cent in North Norfolk.