Budget 2017: Bowel screening programme rolled out

Brett Morrison lost his wife to bowel cancer two years ago but is hopeful a national bowel screening programme being rolled out will save others.

Bowel screening will be rolled out in Southland and Counties Manukau in the next year thanks to a funding boost announced in the 2017 budget.

More than 100 Kiwis die of bowel cancer each month - about the same number who die from breast cancer and prostate cancer combined. New Zealand has one of the highest bowel cancer diagnosis and death rates in the developed world.

Health Minister Jonathan Coleman said $38.5 million of new operating funding had been made available to support the staged implementation of the national bowel screening programme over four years.

"The roll-out of the national bowel screening programme is on track, and begins in Wairarapa and Hutt Valley DHBs in July this year. The additional funding will support the roll-out to Southern and Counties Manukau DHBs during 2017/18," Coleman said.

Once fully implemented, the programme was expected to screen more than 700,000 people between the ages of 60 and 74 every two years.

The national bowel screening programme comes on the back of the successful Waitemata DHB trial which has been running since 2012.

Morrison's wife Sarah, 32, lost her battle with bowel cancer two years ago tomorrow.

Since then the Tauranga man has become an ambassador for Bowel Cancer New Zealand and has been pushing for better screening to pick up the disease early.

Brett Morrison's wife Sarah died from bowel cancer two years ago. Now he is an advocate for bowel screening. Photo/File

He said the roll-out to another two district health boards was a step in the right direction.

"It's got to be nationwide. Then they have to start stretching out the age bracket," he said. "I think it needs to be prioritised even further. It kills a lot more people than the road toll but it gets a fraction of the funding.

"It's a pretty treatable and survivable form of the disease."

Funding for national bowel screening programme
• $38.5 million over four years.
• Made up of $26.1 million of new operating funding and $12.4 million which had been set aside in contingency.
• This builds on the $39.3 million invested in Budget 2016 to get the roll-out under way.