The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 275 No 7365 p274
3 September 2005

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Bowel cancer screening programme for Scotland

Men and women in Scotland aged between 50 and 74 years will be screened for bowel cancer every two years under an initiative announced this week.

Home screening kits, based on faecal occult blood testing, will be sent to people in this age group. A central laboratory will handle the tests and people will receive their results within two weeks.

The service has already been successfully piloted in three health board areas and will be introduced nationally in March 2007.

Last month it was announced that people in England aged 60 to 69 years will be routinely offered bowel cancer screening from April 2006 (PJ, 6 August, p156). People over 70 years of age will be provided with testing kits on request.