DIY screening kit for bowel cancer
Over the next two years, DIY test kits will arrive in the mail for thousands of Nelsonians eligible to take part in a national bowel cancer screening initiative.
The kits are part of the national screening programme, which will launch in Nelson and Marlborough next week.
Nelson Marlborough Health general manager of clinical services Lexie O’Shea said that with the fourth-highest national rate of bowel cancer nationwide, the introduction of the bowel screening programme was especially important for Nelson and Marlborough residents.
‘‘The screening test will save lives and support our families, wha¯ nau and communities to be healthy for longer.’’
From August 14, free bowel cancer screening will be offered across the top of the south for people aged between 60 and 74.
The two-year programme will see 18,600 eligible people in the region receive a test kit. The kits will be sent to a pathology laboratory that will pick up traces of blood in stool samples, which may indicate the possibility of cancer. The results will be sent to the patient and their doctor.
The scheme aims to save lives through detecting pre-cancerous polyps, or finding bowel cancer at an early stage, when it is more likely to be successfully treated.
O’Shea said she encouraged anyone who was eligible to take part in the screening.
‘‘It is especially important for Ma¯ ori people, because while Ma¯ ori people have lower rates of bowel cancer, they are more likely to die of bowel cancer than nonMa¯ ori.’’
New Zealand has one of the highest incidences of bowel cancer in the world. Each year about 3000 Kiwis are diagnosed with the disease, and more than 1200 die of it. It is estimated that one in 18 New Zealanders will develop bowel cancer.
Bowel Cancer New Zealand says 75 per cent of bowel cancer is curable if caught early.
On Wednesday, Health Minister David Clark delivered an apology and a new set of recommendations to strengthen the rollout of the national bowel cancer screening programme.
It came after thousands of patients in the Waitemata District Health Board area did not receive invitations for a screening test, and revelations that some had developed bowel cancer, undetected at the early stages, as a result.
Greater clinical oversight and a plan to develop the workforce are among the 19 recommendations in the review, which largely endorsed the rollout of a screening programme.
A giant blow-up bowel will make an appearance at the Nelson Market on August 18 as part of the programme launch. Medical staff and bowel cancer survivors will be on hand to help answer questions.