EVERYONE over the age of 50 in Scotland will be offered free screening for bowel cancer in a new effort to combat one of the country's biggest killers, it was announced yesterday.
Andy Kerr, the health minister, launched the nationwide programme and claimed it could save 150 lives a year.
Bowel cancer is the third-most common cancer in Scotland and recent statistics show that 3,365 new cases were diagnosed in 2003, with 1,
550 deaths recorded in 2005.
Under the Executive's plans, everybody aged over 50 will be in line for screening but the speed of the take-up will depend on how quickly health boards can prepare to deal with the extra cases diagnosed.
Ministers hope that by 2009, around 650,000 people will be issued with home test-kits annually, with individuals screened once every two years.
This is the latest scheme in the Executive's move away from waiting lists and on to more preventive medicine.
Mr Kerr wants health boards to start focusing more on what they can do to prevent illness, rather than coping with illness when it gets serious.
The minister said: "When it comes to cancer, early diagnosis and treatment can mean the difference between life and death. That's why we're investing £9 million a year in rolling out the UK's most comprehensive bowel-screening programme.
"Once up and running, we hope to be screening well over half a million people annually. Evidence shows this will save around 150 lives every year.
"Experts have suggested that after the smoking ban, this is the most significant policy decision in the cancer area for many years.
"That said, a screening programme can only be successful if people participate in it, and I would encourage anyone who receives a test kit to take part."
The roll-out of the programme in June follows a successful pilot scheme in Tayside, Grampian and Fife that has been running since 2000.
Plans include the creation of a Scottish Bowel Screening Centre in Dundee, which will have a helpline and where tests will be issued, returned and examined.
An awareness campaign has also been launched to coincide with the announcement.
The programme has the full support of Bowel Cancer UK and other leading charities.
Hilary Whittaker, chief executive of Beating Bowel Cancer, said: "There is no doubt bowel-cancer screening will save lives.
"Bowel cancer is the second-biggest cause of cancer deaths in the UK, but if picked up early enough, it can be very treatable.
"Targeting the 50-74-year-old age group will make this programme the first of its kind in Britain and we congratulate Scotland on leading the way."
The preventive approach
UNIVERSAL bowel cancer screening is the latest Executive initiative designed to drive forward preventive medicine.
Ministers recently announced plans to roll out two-view mammography in breast cancer screening.
Normally, two-view mammography only happens at first screenings, but it will now take place in all screenings, helping to identify cancers earlier.
There will also be a roll-out of "keep well" pilots across the country. These checks are designed to spot people most at risk of developing heart problems, strokes, diabetes or cancer.
Those identified are then referred to dieticians or counsellors, helping them to change their lifestyles.
