Over half of eligible people don’t go for bowel cancer test in pilot areas

Overall uptake for a pilot bowel cancer screening programme in England using flexible sigmoidoscopy was 43%, dropping to 33% in the most deprived areas, an analysis has shown.

The report, published in the Journal of Medical Screening, covered 21 187 invitations sent to eligible people in six pilot areas during the first 14 months of the programme—March 2013 to May 2014.1 The six screening centre areas were in London, Norwich, Surrey, Tyneside, west Kent, and Wolverhampton. An explanatory letter was sent to all men …