Bowel cancer screening: programme overview
Source: gov.uk (2025-10-16)

Information on the programme, including commissioning, quality assurance, education and training.

Public information about bowel cancer screening is available on the NHS website (https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/bowel-cancer-screening/) and in the below videos. Members of the public can call the free bowel cancer screening helpline on xx-xxxx-xxxx.

The NHS is committed to reducing inequalities and variation in participation (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/nhs-population-screening-access-for-all) to help make sure everyone has fair and equal access to screening services.

NHS England has also published information about patient confidentiality in population screening programmes (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/patient-confidentiality-in-nhs-population-screening-programmes).

Target population

We invite people aged 50 to 74 years for bowel cancer screening every 2 years.

We automatically send a home test kit to people if they turned 50 after bowel screening was extended to 50-year-olds.

People who were 50 or 51 when the programme began will receive the home test kit at age 52.

People who were 52 or older when the programme began will receive the home test kit at age 54.

People must be registered with a GP and live in England to be invited.

People aged 75 or over can ask for a screening kit every 2 years by calling the free helpline on xx-xxxx-xxxx.

Condition screened for

Bowel cancer is a general term for cancer that begins in the large bowel. Depending on where it starts, bowel cancer is sometimes called colon or rectal cancer. The NHS website (https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/bowel-cancer/) has more information, including:
- symptoms of bowel cancer
- causes of bowel cancer
- treatment for bowel cancer
The screening test

Faecal immunochemical test

A new test kit called the faecal immunochemical test (FIT) was introduced in England in June 2019. This kit is now sent with all invitations for bowel cancer screening.

People eligible for bowel cancer screening get an invitation letter, along with an information leaflet (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bowel-cancer-screening-benefits-and-risks) explaining screening and its possible benefits and risks.

About a week later, the programme sends a FIT kit with instructions on how to use it at home. Results are sent out 2 weeks after the laboratory receives the completed kit.

The screening programme offers individuals with an abnormal screening result a colonoscopy (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bowel-cancer-screening-colonoscopy).

The quality assurance guidelines for colonoscopy (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bowel-cancer-screening-colonoscopy-quality-assurance) provide guidance on standards and performance indicators in colonoscopy.

Evidence base

Bowel cancer screening is one of 11 NHS national population screening programmes (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/nhs-population-screening-explained) available in England.

The UK National Screening Committee (https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/uk-national-screening-committee-uk-nsc) (UK NSC) makes recommendations (https://legacyscreening.phe.org.uk/screening-recommendations.php) to ministers in the 4 UK countries on all aspects of population screening. It ensures that screening provides more benefit than harm, at a reasonable cost to the NHS.

Recommendations are based on internationally recognised criteria (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/evidence-review-criteria-national-screening-programmes) and a rigorous evidence review process (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-nsc-evidence-review-process).

Read the UK NSC recommendation on bowel cancer screening (https://legacyscreening.phe.org.uk/bowelcancer).

Data and intelligence

NHS England collects routine data (https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/profile/cancerservices/data#page/0) and key performance indicators (KPI) data reports (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/nhs-population-screening-programmes-kpi-reports) to monitor the uptake of bowel cancer screening.

Requests for screening data and research

All requests for screening data need to be approved by the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme Research Advisory Committee (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bowel-cancer-screening-submitting-research-proposals).

There is a terms of reference for NHS population screening programme research advisory committees (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nhs-population-screening-research-and-data-requests-terms-of-reference).

Commissioning

NHS England publishes the bowel cancer screening pathway requirements specification (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bowel-cancer-screening-pathway-requirements-specification), which provides an overview of bowel cancer screening by describing what should happen at each stage of the end-to-end pathway. Providers and commissioners should use this to ensure high quality and consistent screening services

Quality assurance

The role of the screening quality assurance service (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/bowel-cancer-screening-commission-provide-inform) is to:
- assess the quality of local screening programmes
- monitor compliance with standards
- support services with improving quality
- undertake regional level quality assurance visits (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nhs-population-screening-regional-quality-assurance-teams-in-england)
The programme specific operating model (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bowel-cancer-screening-programme-specific-operating-model) for quality assurance of the bowel cancer screening programme should be read in conjunction with the relevant programme standards (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bowel-cancer-screening-programme-standards/our-approach-to-bowel-cancer-screening-standards).

Workforce – education and training

Education and training resources (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/bowel-cancer-screening-education-and-training) are available for healthcare professionals working in bowel cancer screening.

There are also more general resources (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/nhs-population-screening-education-and-training) to support screening professionals in their initial training and continuing professional development (CPD).

It is an individual’s choice whether or not to have screening. People can opt out (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/opting-out-of-the-nhs-population-screening-programmes) if they do not want to receive screening invitations.

Keep up to date

Keep up to date with what is new in the programme, including the latest guidance and good practice.

You can register to get updates (https://www.gov.uk/health-and-social-care/population-screening-programmes-bowel) on the NHS bowel cancer screening programme direct to your inbox. Follow the instructions to get emails about the pages you are interested in.

Contact the screening team

NHS England screening Wellington House 133-155 Waterloo Road London SE1 8UG

Read our leaflet on bowel cancer screening and find out how to request alternative formats (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bowel-cancer-screening-benefits-and-risks) on GOV.UK.

We cannot help with media enquiries or access screening results.