Last reviewed: 28 March 2024
Last reviewed: 28 March 2024
Bowel cancer screening aims to detect bowel cancer at an early stage before symptoms have a chance to develop. It reduces death from bowel cancer
and may also help to prevent bowel cancer through the identification and removal of pre-cancerous polyps or adenomas .There are around 44,100 new bowel cancer cases in the UK every year (2017-2019). When diagnosed at its earliest stage, survival is much higher than when the disease is diagnosed at a late stage (stages 3 & 4).
There are separate bowel screening programmes for the different UK nations, which invite eligible people to take part in bowel cancer screening by letter every two years. Bowel cancer screening is available to the following groups in each nation:
England: people aged 54 to 74 years who are registered with a GP. NHS England is gradually expanding the programme to people aged between 50 and 59.
Northern Ireland: people aged 60 to 74 years who are registered with a GP.
Scotland: people aged 50 to 74 years with a CHI (Community Health Index) number.
Wales: everyone aged 51 to 74 years who is registered with a GP and living in Wales. People aged 51-54 will start to be invited from October 2023 to September 2024. The programme is expected to expand to people aged 50-74 at a future date.
Our at-a-glance guide shows how bowel cancer screening criteria varies across the UK.
Bowel cancer screening at a glance(PDF, 86.9 KB)
Includes information on the screening test, uptake statistics, promoting informed choice, safety netting and surveillance.
Includes information on the screening test, uptake statistics, promoting informed choice, safety netting and surveillance.
Includes information around planned changes to the programme, including age extension and FIT sensitivity thresholds.
Find out what bowel cancer screening is, who’s eligible and how to complete the test.
Visit our bowel cancer screening pageIn this section you will find resources and examples of good practice that can enable you to support informed participation in bowel cancer screening.
Cancer Research UK’s Primary Care good practice guide provides health professionals in primary care with practical tools and information to support their practice population to participate in bowel cancer screening through informed choice.
Read our bowel cancer screening good practice guide - UK-wide(PDF, 708 KB)
For a more concise overview of bowel cancer detection and diagnosis, you can read our bowel cancer screening at a glance resource(PDF, 86.9 KB) and our two-page bowel guide(PDF) to the recognition, referral and management of suspected bowel cancer.
For additional information and support addressing inequalities, read our resource reducing inequalities in cancer screening(PDF) and NHS England guidance NHS bowel cancer screening: identifying and reducing inequalities.
There are some key differences in the use of Faecal Immunochemical Test (FIT) for screening asymptomatic people through the bowel screening programme, compared to it being used to investigate symptomatic patients.
Cancer Research UK have developed infographics to highlight the different uses of FIT.
Screening vs. Symptomatic FIT infographic (England)(PDF, 36.8 KB)
Screening vs. Symptomatic FIT infographic (Scotland)(PDF, 61.3 KB)
Screening vs. Symptomatic FIT infographic (Wales)(PDF, 44.1 KB)
Screening vs. Symptomatic FIT infographic (Northern Ireland)(PDF, 135 KB)
Visit our FIT Symptomatic webpage for more information.
Our Talk Cancer training workshops for community-based health workers and volunteers, help trainees feel more confident in talking to the public about cancer.
Find out more or commission a Talk Cancer workshop
You can share the following resources with your patients to help increase awareness, understanding of and participation in the bowel cancer screening programme.
An animated video which explains how to complete the bowel cancer screening test kit. There's a subtitled version too.
‘How to do the bowel cancer screening test’ - subtitled version
‘How to do your bowel screening test’ (Wales) - English version
‘How to do your bowel screening test’ (Wales) - Welsh version
You can also find short animations produced by NHSE Screening which explain how to use your bowel cancer screening kit. Subtitles are available in English, as well as Arabic, Bengali, Chinese (simplified and traditional), Farsi, Gujarati, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi and Urdu. A British Sign Language version is also available.
Step-by-step infographics on how to complete the bowel cancer screening test kit and practical tips how to collect the poo sample.
England FIT version(PDF, 1.14 MB)
Scotland FIT version(PDF, 1.13 MB)
Wales FIT version(PDF, 1.14 MB)
Bowel cancer screening programmes send leaflets with invitations to bowel cancer screening. They include information to support informed choice with respect to bowel screening participation, and information about benefits and harms.
These key patient leaflets and information support patient participation in bowel cancer screening:
Leaflets explaining how to use the FIT kit in England are available in multiple languages, large print, British Sign Language and for those with learning disabilities. Access an easy read version of the English BSCP Leaflet
NHS Inform offers information on bowel cancer screening in Scotland in a range of languages and formats
Public Health Wales provides a number of patient leaflets
The Northern Ireland BCSP provides a range of leaflets in, which are available in multiple languages
There are several patient resources to support informed participation in Lynch syndrome surveillance:
Our Roadshow nurses visit local communities, raising awareness of cancer risk factors, screening and early detection. We work closely with health partners in each area we visit and help signpost people to local services.
Find out more and work with the Cancer Awareness Roadshow in your area
Scholefield JH, Moss SM, Mangham CM, et al Nottingham trial of faecal occult blood testing for colorectal cancer: a 20-year follow-up Gut 2012;61:1036-1040. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22052062/
Granger, SP, Preece, RAD, Thomas, MG, Dixon, SW, Chambers, AC, Messenger, DE. Colorectal cancer incidence trends by tumour location among adults of screening-age in England: a population-based study. Colorectal Dis. 2023; 00: 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1111/codi.16666
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