Call for government to cut bowel cancer deaths by 60% in the next 13 years

The number of deaths from bowel cancer could be cut by 60% by 2025 if the government acts on recommendations made in a report, a charity has claimed.

Bowel Cancer UK has set out a plan, which, it claims, could result in an extra 2500 people with bowel cancer a year surviving for at least five years after diagnosis by 2025.

Changes that the report recommends include: encouraging a greater uptake in screening, which is currently only 50%, earlier and high quality diagnosis with increased capacity—colonoscopy capacity should be more than doubled over the next five years to cope with growing demand due in part to an ageing population—and improved and more coordinated care for …