Cambridge Family Health is proud to both support and promote the National Bowel Screening Programme. The programme is a free initiative to help detect bowel cancer at an early stage when it can often be successfully treated.
Free screening is being offered every two years to people who are 60 to 74 years of age, who are eligible for publicly funded health care.
If you are eligible, you will be sent:
- an invitation letter
- a consent form
- a free bowel screening test kit, with instructions on how to use it.
Once you complete and send in your test, if your results are negative, you will be sent a confirmation letter from the laboratory and invited to take another test in two years' time.
If your result is positive, your GP will receive an electronic copy of the results from the laboratory, and we will advise you directly on what that means. In contacting you, we will both discuss your results as well as the type of follow up test that is right for you.
Importantly - a positive test result does not necessarily mean you have bowel cancer.
Small amounts of blood in your bowel motion are most commonly caused by polyps, or other minor conditions such as haemorrhoids (piles), which can easily be treated.
If your test is positive it simply means we need to investigate further and rule out these other possibilities.
If you have any questions about the National Bowel Screening Programme, see the website at timetoscreen.nz/bowel-screening - or give us a call on 827 4234.