Irish Cancer Society concerned by delays to the rollout of bowel cancer screening

The Irish Cancer Society is disappointed to learn that it will take three years to roll out the first phase of the Bowel Cancer Screening Programme, involving men and women aged 60 to 69. This information emerged at the weekend following a reply from Health Minister James Reilly to a question in the Dáil last week.

Head of Advocacy and Communications, Kathleen O’Meara said, "While we welcome the rollout of this much needed screening programme, we are nonetheless very concerned by the Minister’s comments about the timescale for extending the screening programme to the full 55 to 74 year age group. "Bowel cancer is second biggest cancer killer in Ireland with over 900 deaths each year. One of the reasons for this is that around half of people with bowel cancer are diagnosed in the later stages of the disease which means that they require more complex treatment and have a poorer chance of survival. The good news is that bowel cancer is treatable if caught in time.  A national screening programme is the key to improving early detection and survival from bowel cancer and needs to be available for the full age group in order to save as many lives as possible.” She continued, “The Irish Cancer Society wants to know what can be done to speed up the rollout of the programme to the full age range and we want Government to prioritise this life saving public health service.  It is now over three years since the Society committed €1 million to this programme. If this fund can be used to speed up the full rollout of the programme, we would welcome that.” Bowel cancer screening is used to detect bowel cancer in people who have no symptoms. Screening detects bowel cancer when it is at a curable stage. Screening also detects pre-malignant lesions which can be removed, preventing bowel cancer from developing. Bowel cancer screening means that fewer people develop the disease in the first place, that some of those who do can get treated successfully, and that fewer people will die from bowel cancer. There are over 2,000 new cases of bowel cancer in Ireland each year. The number of people diagnosed with bowel cancer is expected to increase as our population ages and by 2020, 3,755 people a year are expected to be diagnosed with bowel cancer. The Irish Cancer Society urges anyone who is concerned about bowel cancer, to speak in confidence with a specialist cancer nurse by calling the Irish Cancer Society’s National Cancer Helpline on Freefone 1800 200 700.  For more information on bowel cancer, visit our bowel cancer information pages, while you can also find out more about the Irish Cancer Society's advocacy campaigns here.