Those at Risk
Early detection and diagnosis of bowel cancer significantly improves the prognosis, with 9 out of 10 of those diagnosed at Stage 1 surviving for 5 years compared to 1 out of 10 of those diagnosed at Stage 4. The national bowel cancer screening programme is estimated to avoid 2,400 bowel cancer deaths annually18 through early detection and diagnosis.
Nationally and locally, screening uptake varies by deprivation, gender, and ethnicity, with those least likely to screen, more likely to die from bowel cancer1. Nationally, the incidence rate of bowel cancer is 9% higher in males in the most deprived quintile compared to the least, though this correlation with deprivation is not seen in females. Given the higher risk of developing bowel cancer amongst these cohorts, it is critical that concerted efforts are undertaken to increase screening uptake to secure better outcomes. The gender and ethnicity disparity in uptake is not routinely recorded at a local level. However, variation between GP practices may be used as a proxy indicator for socioeconomic deprivation.
The National Bowel Cancer Screening Service
The NHSE/I commission the national bowel cancer screening service (NBCSP) to be delivered by the North East Bowel Cancer Screening Programme Hub which covers the Humber and North Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, and part of Bassetlaw.
The NBCSP introduced the FIT test in 2019 and the bowel scope was withdrawn from the programme in 2020 due to the effectiveness of FIT screening and lack of clarity whether using the two tests in conjunction provided any additional benefit. The incidence rate of bowel cancer has been remained stable in the UK between 1993-1995 and 2016-2018, reducing by 2% for women and 3% for men in that period. Simultaneously, uptake for bowel cancer screening has increased from 35% in England and 45.3% in North Tyneside in 2009-10 to 66.8% and 71.8% for England and North Tyneside respectfully in 2021-2114 . Despite this improvement, within North Tyneside, only approximately 41% of bowel cancers were diagnosed at Stage 1 or 2 between 2013- 2019 , needing an improvement of 34% to reach the NHS LTP goal of 75% of all cancers being diagnosed early.