NHS bowel cancer screening checks to see if you could have bowel cancer.
It is available to everyone aged 60 or over but the programme is expanding to include 56 year olds in 2021. You will receive a home test kit every two years up to the age of 74, but you can still request a kit every two years after that.
You use a home test kit, called a faecal immunochemical test (FIT), to collect a small sample of poo and send it to a lab. This is checked for tiny amounts of blood.
Blood can be a sign of polyps or bowel cancer. Polyps are growths in the bowel. They are not cancer, but may turn into cancer over time.
If the test finds anything unusual, you might be asked to have further tests to confirm or rule out cancer.
Always contact your GP if you have symptoms of bowel cancer at any age, even if you have recently completed a NHS bowel cancer screening test.
See here for more information and details of the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening programme or contact them on 0800 707 60 60 to request a home test kit.
See here for more information or support with living with Bowel Cancer.
