Bowel cancer screening

Bowel cancer screening uptake data is collected to the practice level, while incidence or mortality data is not. This limits how targeted interventions can be to improve bowel cancer outcomes.

When the national screening programme was developed in 2006, the national acceptable threshold of uptake was set at 60% which has been exceeded nationally and locally since 2016-17. In 2021/22, the uptake for England was 70.3% while in North Tyneside uptake was 72.0%, with recent improvements in uptake due to the introduction of the FIT test in 2018-19.

Despite the high borough level uptake of 72.0%, screening uptake is not equal across the eligible population or borough. For example, the variation in uptake within some of the primary care networks may suggest varying practices, interventions or processes are impacting upon screening uptake which warrants further exploration.

Modifiable risk factors for bowel cancer include a diet with a lot of red and processed meat, alcoholic drinks, and adult body fatness which are more prevalent in communities with higher deprivation,29 .

In North Tyneside, bowel cancer screening is high amongst people with a learning disability. However, there is significant variation between GP practices in North Tyneside, with more than half recording that 0% of the eligible population living with a learning disability have been screened, compared to a fifth of all GP practices reporting that 100% of the eligible population living with a learning disability have participated in the bowel screening programme.[*1]

[*1 - North Tyneside Clinical Commissioning Group Business Intelligence (2022) Learning Disabilities Cancer Screening. Available upon request from Public Health Team at North Tyneside Council or the North Tyneside Clinical Commissioning Group.]

No other data is currently recorded around disability and either bowel cancer mortality or screening uptake.