We know that intention doesn't always translate to action when people get their bowel screening kit in the mail.
The question is, how to turn bowel screening kits sitting in fruit bowls, under mail, or on bathroom benches into returned tests? A simple chat with a trusted health professional may hold the key.
Doctors are now able to bulk order and issue National Bowel Cancer Screening Program kits to eligible patients. And we're seeing an increase in people completing their first ever bowel screening test after talking to their doctor.
In just over 24 months, over 43% of people completed the bowel screening test after being given one directly by their healthcare provider. Of these people:
- 46% are never screeners (people who are eligible but have never completed a test that was sent to them)
- 26% are re-screeners (people who screened in their previous round)
- 13% are under screeners (people who have screened before but missed a screening round)
- 15% are first time screeners (people who are eligible to screen for the first time)
Encouraging first time screeners is key
Since 1 July 2024, people aged 45 to 49 have been eligible to screen with the program. That's around 1.6 million more people who can access this free life saving test.
The risk of bowel cancer increases with age, so it's important that people screen every 2 years from the age of 45. Over 90% of bowel cancers can be successfully treated if found early.
People aged 50-59 have historically under-screened with the program. However, healthcare providers issuing kits through this alternative access to kits model are helping drive increased kit issue and return rates from people in this age range.
As more healthcare providers continue to directly issue bowel program kits, we should not underestimate the downstream effects. When people screen once, they tend to do it again.
One chat about bowel cancer screening can save a life
Over 1100 healthcare providers are already issuing program kits directly to patients. However, we're encouraging more practices to bulk order program kits and start having the bowel screening chat with eligible patients.
To help get more people aged 45 to 74 doing this free, simple test every 2 years:
- ASK patients if they have any concerns about doing the test at home.
- SHOW patients an open test kit and how to use it. Order demo kits for your practice.
- LEARN more about implementing the alternative access to kits model into your practice.
To put into context how impactful talking about bowel screening with patients can be: current participation in the program is sitting at just over 40%. If we can increase participation to 60%, over 84,000 lives could be saved by 2040.
That's got to be worth a quick chat to help more people do the free bowel screening test.
Learn more about the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program.
