Lower age for bowel screening in Gisborne starts next year as Govt expands plan to fight cancer

Health Minister Simeon Brown says the lower age of 58 for the bowel screening programme will apply to Tairāwhiti residents next year.

The Government’s expansion of the free bowel screening programme started in Northland, Auckland and the South Island this week and is scheduled to begin in Tairāwhiti in March.

The starting age for the expanded bowel screening programme has been lowered from 60 to 58 and will apply to the entire country next year.

Health Minister Simeon Brown said the Government was committed to lowering the bowel screening age to match Australia’s age (of 45), and lowering it to 58 was the first step.

“Lowering the starting age to 58 will see 122,000 people become eligible for free screening in the first year alone,” he said.

“Over the next 25 years, this change is expected to prevent 771 bowel cancers and save 566 lives.”

Health NZ-Tairāwhiti and other MidCentral health districts have been offering free bowel screening to Māori and Pacific peoples from the age of 50.

The two-year pilot in Tairāwhiti ends this month, but people involved in the programme will be invited to undergo bowel screening until they turn 75.

Bowel screening is quick and easy and can be done at home.

A test kit is delivered by post every two years. The test is done at home and mailed back in a pre-paid envelope. Results are received within three weeks of returning the test.

New Zealand has one of the highest rates of bowel cancer in the world, according to Health NZ.

Bowel cancer is the second-highest cause of cancer death in New Zealand. More than 3300 people are diagnosed with bowel cancer every year, and more than 1200 die from it.

Bowel cancer often has no symptoms. The bowel screening test (a faecal immunochemical test or FIT) can detect tiny traces of blood in the bowel motion.

It helps save lives by finding bowel cancer early, when it can often be successfully treated.