Aintree University Hospital need your help to improve Bowel Cancer Screening

Aintree Unniversity Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has asked us if we could share a very short survey (3 questions) to gain views from Sefton residents to help them to improve bowel screening.

What is Bowel Cancer Screening?

Screening is the process of identifying people who appear healthy but may be at increased risk of a disease or condition.  No screening test is 100% accurate; but it will let us know if we need to carry out any further investigations.

People eligible for screening receive an invitation letter explaining the programme, along with an information leaflet explaining the benefits and risks of bowel cancer screening.  About a week later, the programme should send a ‘faecal occult blood sampling kit’ which includes simple instructions for completing sampling at home and how to send the samples to the laboratory.  The sample is then processed and the results will be  sent to the individual within 2 weeks.

The Bowel Scope Cancer Screening Programme offers a one off investigation of a flexible sigmoidoscopy ( this is where a small  flexible camera is used to investigate the bowel )and  is open to people who are 55.  This is currently being rolled out across the country.

Whilst a large number of people will take up the test – not everyone will.  We need to understand why people decline the test or follow up investigations so that we can improve our service and save as many lives as possible.

Why should people take part in screening?

• If we detect a cancer early (before it becomes symptomatic at the earliest stage) there is a 90% chance of survival for the patient

 For Bowelscope

• For every 300 patients we scope we will prevent 2 from getting cancer and we will save 1 life.

 Is screening for bowel cancer important?

About one in 20 people in the UK will develop bowel cancer during their lifetime.

• It is the third most common cancer in the UK, and the second leading cause of cancer deaths, with over 16,000 people dying from it each year (CancerResearch UK, 2005. Cancerstats).
• Regular bowel cancer screening has been shown to reduce the risk of dying from bowel cancer by 16% (Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2006).

The Trust would really appreciate your anonymous feedback, so if you have the time to answer 3 very short questions please click here.