A county-wide bowel screening programme has fully rolled out an extended service that aims to diagnose bowel cancer at an earlier stage, helping save more lives.
The extended Dorset Bowel Cancer Screening Programme (DBSCP) offers all men and women aged 55 a complimentary one-off bowel scope at all GP practices in Dorset.
Research has shown that people who participate in bowel scope screening will reduce their risk of dying from bowel cancer by a third and a study by Cancer Research UK suggests that more than 90% of patients will live for more than five years if diagnosed early.
Screening is now available throughout Dorset for people aged 55 who are registered with a Dorset GP after having been initially introduced at Poole Hospital in 2015.
The full roll out is the first of its kind in the Wessex region and the second in the south of England.
The programme helps prevent bowel cancer by diagnosing people who have developed bowel polyps and then removing them - stopping the progression of these sometimes cancerous growths.
The new test compliments the already established DBSCP, in which testing kits are sent out to people aged 60-74 years.
The programme is based at Poole Hospital with satellite screening sites at the Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch hospitals, Dorset County Hospital, Wimborne’s Victoria Hospital, and Swanage Community Hospital.
By expanding the number of people screened, Sally Parry, clinical director for the screening programme, is confident it will have a ‘positive effect’.
“This is a fantastic achievement,” said Dr Parry. “We are proud to be one of the first centres in the south of England to have completed the roll out and we’re confident it will have a positive effect.
“This wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for the hard work of the DBSCP team plus the wider support of Poole Hospital, as well as supporting Trusts.”
Every GP practice in the county is linked to the roll out so every person aged 55 in Dorset will have an invitation to have a bowel scope.
