Barriers to Participation in Bowel Cancer Screening

Principal Investigator: Dr Stephen Rogers

Other key staff: Dr Merryn Ekberg, Dr Graham Martin and Mrs Holly Hamer

Partners involved: NHS Northamptonshire, University of Leicester

Summary: Cancer of the large bowel (colorectal cancer) is the third most common form of cancer after lung cancer in the United Kingdom. Around 30,000 new cases of colorectal cancer are diagnosed in England and Wales each year. Colorectal cancer is registered as the underlying cause of approximately 15,000 deaths in England and Wales each year, and accounts for over ten percent of all cancer deaths. Around two thirds of tumours develop in the colon and the remainder in the rectum. Colon cancer is equally common in men and women.

Colorectal cancer is highly curable if it is diagnosed early, because it has a long pre-clinical phase that allows detection by screening before it becomes surgically incurable. Faecal Occult Blood Testing (FOBT) is the focus of national bowel screening program pilots in the UK. FOBT screening can be regarded as a sequence of risk refinement leading to a final decision as to whether or not one should undertake the definitive diagnostic test. Uptake rates in Northamptonshire for the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme as a whole were lower than those achieved in the relevant age groups in the UK pilot studies.

This study will use a series focus groups with members recruited from within three of Northamptonshire's larger towns. Questions will explore members’ understanding of bowel cancer, the benefits and disadvantages of testing, how and why an individual chooses to return the screening test, or indeed, why they decline the offer to return the test.

Aims:

• What factors encourage an individual from participating in the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme
• What factors discourage an individual from participating in the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme
• How might participation be facilitated by changes to the structure, content or delivery of the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme

Further information: Patient involvement in the design and the implementation of the study will be through the LNR Cancer Partnership and the East Midlands Cancer Network. The principal investigator is currently the Chair of the LNR Bowel Cancer Screening Board and members have contributed to the conception and the detail of the study.

If you would like to be involved in this project or for more information, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , Early Detection Theme Manager

Start date: 08/2010                                                                                        Expected end date: 08/2011

Project outcomes:

• It is hoped that the results of this project will lead to an improved Bowel Cancer Screening Programme and increased participation rate. In turn, this will lead to a higher bowel cancer detection rate and hence, a reduction in the morbidity and mortality rate of bowel cancer in the population.