Bowel cancer screening for all over-50s

ALL adults will be offered bowel cancer screening from the age of 50 in a bid to save thousands of lives.

Men and women aged 60 to 74 are invited to carry out home tests but Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, yesterday reduced the threshold so everyone over 50 in England would be sent new FIT packs for self-testing. From this autumn they will be offered to those aged between 60 and 74, with details of tests for those aged 50 to 60 to be announced.

Prof Anne Mackie, director of screening at Public Health England, said: “The risk of bowel cancer rises steeply from age 50 to 54 and rates are significantly higher among males than females. Starting screening 10 years earlier will help spot abnormalities at an earlier stage. The change will take time but we want the FIT to be offered to all aged 60 and over as soon as possible.”

George Alagiah, the BBC newsreader, and Andrew Lansley, the former health secretary, are among those who have called for earlier screening for cancer.

Mr Alagiah is being treated for bowel cancer and has said it could have been detected sooner if over-50s were screened in England as they were in Scotland. Lord Lansley, who also had the disease, urged the Government to bring screening “in line with international best practice”.