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As of Wednesday 9th October 2024, Bowel Screening Wales will start to invite people aged 50 for bowel cancer screening for the first time. It follows the lowering of the age from 60 to 51 over the previous three years. The programme will be rolled out to the newly eligible age group gradually over the next 10 months.
Bowel cancer is one of the most common causes of death from cancer in Wales. Over 2,000 people are diagnosed with bowel cancer every year in Wales, and it results in over 900 deaths. Evidence shows that screening people at a younger age enables more bowel cancers to be picked up at an earlier stage, when treatment is likely to be more effective and survival chances improved.
The screening test used is the highly effective Faecal Immunochemical Test (FIT), which is easy for people to use at home, requiring just one sample of poo. The test looks for tiny traces of blood (haemoglobin) in the sample, which are too small to be seen but can be an indicator of bowel cancer and benign polyps. In addition to the age expansion to 50-year-olds, Bowel Screening Wales will also lower the positive threshold level of the screening FIT from 120µg of haemoglobin/g for faeces to 80µg from Monday 7th October 2024. This change will increase the sensitivity of the screening test and result in more cancers, polyps and adenomas being detected by screening.
The following statement has been released by Welsh Government: Bowel screening age lowered to 50 in Wales | GOV.WALES
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