Millions of people who have been given a life-saving bowel cancer home test are being urged to use and return it as part of an advertising campaign. It has been backed by the husband of Dame Deborah James, who died from the disease last year at the age of 40.
The NHS campaign launches on Monday across TV, radio, social media and video on demand. The kit can help spot the condition early and those who use it are nine times more likely to survive. New figures show a record 70% of people are willing to be screened for the disease - but 30% of those given a test kit are not returning it.
In August the NHS said campaigning by podcaster and columnist Dame Deborah has led record numbers of people to test themselves for the illness. Her husband Sebastien Bowen told The Sun: “The sooner you are diagnosed the more likely it is that treatment will be successful. So if you get sent a test, don’t put it off, it could be the difference between life and death."
Bowel cancer is the fourth most common cancer in the UK and the second biggest cancer killer. Almost 43,000 people are diagnosed with bowel cancer in the UK each year and more than 16,500 people die from it – more than 45 a day.
The advert shows a man joyfully running around his house with toilet roll before completing the test, which highlights how easy and quick it is to do. The ad ends by saying: “Put it by the loo. Don’t put it off.”
Each month, the NHS posts out more than half a million free Faecal Immunochemical Test (FIT) kits to people to use at home. It detects small amounts of blood in poo that would not be visible before people notice anything is wrong.
People aged 60 to 74 years who are registered with a GP practice and live in England are automatically sent an FIT kit every two years. The NHS plans to lower the age that people receive the test to 50 by 2025.
It is quicker to use than the previous bowel cancer screening home-testing kit. People simply need to collect a tiny sample of poo using the plastic stick provided, pop it in the sample bottle and send it free of charge to the NHS for tests in a lab.
NHS chiefs have urged people not to be “prudish about poo”, with people often reluctant to talk about it as a possible bowel cancer symptom due to embarrassment.
Subscribe here for the latest news where you live
Simon Clarke, 67, from Hornsey in north London, caught the cancer early by using the kit. He said: “I wasn’t particularly worried but when they analysed the polyps, cancer was in one of them.
“They caught it as a very minor tumour and it hadn’t spread. Without the screening I wouldn’t have known it was there. Use the bowel cancer screening kit when you’re sent it, because if it catches something early like it did with me, it could save your life.”
National clinical director for cancer Professor Peter Johnson said: “Thousands of people in England develop bowel cancer each year, but the chances of surviving it are very good when it is caught early. I would urge everyone who is sent a kit to return their test as quickly as they can… don’t die of embarrassment.”
Genevieve Edwards, chief executive of charity Bowel Cancer UK, said: “Quite simply, bowel cancer screening could save your life and we would encourage everyone to complete the test when they receive it.”
Health Secretary Steve Barclay said: “Bowel cancer is the fourth most common cancer in the UK, but we know that screening increases the chances of early diagnosis which can prevent deaths from this devastating disease. With the launch of the NHS’s first national campaign on bowel cancer screening, more people will be encouraged to use the home testing kit when they receive it.
“Screening makes it more likely that bowel cancer will be successfully detected and treated.”
People worried they may have missed their invitation or have lost or thrown away their kit can call the free bowel cancer screening helpline for advice on 0800 707 60 60.
