The latest Bowel Screening Wales Annual Statistical Report for 2017-2018 indicates that the uptake of bowel screening in Wales has risen in the past year. The goal of the bowel screening programme is to lower bowel cancer morbidity and mortality, with an uptake target of 60 percent of those invited to participate in screening.
According to the report, among individuals who were invited for bowel screening between April 2017 and March 2018, the uptake rate was 55.7 percent compared with an uptake rate of 53.4 percent in the previous year. Total of 221 individuals received a diagnosis of bowel cancer and 1216 individuals had polyps detected and removed. The uptake rates for Cardiff and Vale University Health Board and Hywel Dda University Health Board were 54.6 percent and 56.5 percent, respectively.
Hayley Heard, who leads the Bowel Screening Wales Programme, said: "We are very pleased to see that overall our uptake figures have seen a 2.3 percent increase. It is important that we continue this upward trajectory in order to reach our 60 percent all Wales uptake target."
Various initiatives that Bowel Screening Wales team has undertaken to improve screening uptake rates include an extensive public awareness campaign and parallel GP engagement campaign in alliance with Cancer Research UK, and a new system that lets GP practices be notified about their non-responders.
