PEOPLE in Wales aged 58 and 59 will be offered bowel cancer screening in a bid to detect the disease at an earlier age.

The tests will be sent out through the Bowel Screening Wales programme to 58 and 29-year-olds from this month.

They will continue to send the kits out to those aged between 60 and 74 every two years.

The evidence looked at by Public Health Wales shows that screening people at a younger age will enable more cancers to be detected earlier, allowing for treatment to potentially be more effective and survival chances to be improved.

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Public Health Wales’ director for screening, Dr Sharon Hillier, said: “Our screening programmes in Wales continue to recover following the impact of the pandemic and we are pleased that we are now able to start to offer younger people bowel screening.

“Bowel screening reduces the risk of people in Wales dying from bowel cancer and every year the programme tests over 150,000 kits and from these we are able to identify hundreds of participants who can be offered further investigation or treatment.

“I would encourage those newly eligible to read the information pack that comes with your test kit carefully, to help you make an informed choice on taking part in bowel screening.”

Bowel Screening Wales uses the Faecal Immunochemical Test (FIT) kit which only needs one sample and is said to be easier for people to use.

Participants will receive kits and invitation letters to their home and just need to complete the kit and return it using the pre-paid envelope.

Eluned Morgan, minister for health and social services, said: “I would encourage everyone who is eligible – especially all those who are being invited to take part for the first time – to take part. It’s a simple test to do and there’s plenty of information in the test kit.

“Taking part in screening programmes is one of the things we can do to look after our health.”

More than 200 bowel cancers are detected each year are detected by the screening kits.

Symptoms of bowel cancer can include:

  • Bleeding from the bottom and/or blood in poo.
  • A persistent and unexplained change in bowel habit.
  • Unexplained weight loss.
  • Extreme tiredness for no obvious reason.
  • A pain or lump in stomach.

Anyone with these symptoms should contact their GP regardless of age or when their last bowel screening was.

More information on Bowel Screening Wales can be found at www.bowelscreening.wales.nhs.uk