Bid to cut bowel cancer deaths (From Swindon Advertiser)

Bid to cut bowel cancer deaths

4:00pm Friday 20th November 2009

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BOWEL cancer deaths in Swindon could drop as Great Western Hospital launches its new bowel cancer screening programme this month.

The scheme, which cost £1m to prepare for, will see every 60 to 70-year-old in the town sent a self-screening kit.

Those with specimens that return with unusual results, will be called into the hospital for an inspection of the large bowel, with the intention of catching cancer in its earliest stages.

“It is a very exciting time for us,” said Peter Hanson, the head of endoscopy at Great Western Hospital.

“This approach has been shown to reduce the death rate from bowel cancer by 16 per cent so it will save lives in Swindon.”

It has taken 12 months to get GWH’s endoscopy department ready for the programme, including installing a state-of-the-art decontamination facility for medical instruments and meeting 350 separate criteria set out by the Joint Advisory Group.

Before now patients testing positive, about one in 50, would have to travel to Bath Royal United Hospital or Salisbury District Hospital for the procedure.

About 40 people a year in Swindon die from the disease.

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