News
Despite being the nation’s second deadliest cancer, and early detection proving 99% successful for treatment, testing rates continue to fall.
GPs are being reminded to bulk order bowel screening tests to give out to eligible patients.
Bowel cancer screening is down to 40% participation nationally, according to the latest AIHW monitoring report.
It is the second consecutive year the percentage of people being tested has fallen in Australia, with six in 10 people aged 50–74 invited to participate in the multimillion-dollar initiative not returning their test.
GPs are being urged to talk to their patients about accessing the tests and to order kits for their practices.
Professor Jon Emery, who is the RACGP representative on the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program Clinical Advisory Group, told newsGP general practice has a hugely important role in turning this trend around.
‘We know that even just a brief discussion by a GP or a practice nurse about how to do the kit and the benefits of doing the kit, reminding them that they’re due, can increase participation and that’s a really important role,’ he said.
‘If we can get a 60% rate of screening then we could save 84,000 lives from bowel cancer in the next 20 years.’
In 2022, 64,932 (5.7%) participants received a positive result, meaning blood was detected in the sample that is non-visible to the naked eye and required further investigation via colonoscopy.
However, only 13.5% were recorded as having received a colonoscopy within the recommended 30-day timeframe, down from 15.6% in 2021. Participants waited between 133 days and 197 days, depending on where they lived.
The lowering rates are particularly disheartening, according to Bowel Cancer Australia CEO Julien Wiggins, who says 99% of bowel cancer cases can be ‘successfully treated’ when detected early.
‘The opportunity for early detection is lost if a positive screening result is not promptly followed by a colonoscopy,’ he said.
Professor Emery, who also helped establish the RACGP guidelines on cancer, said testing had been improving until COVID-19 hit.
‘We’ve all got a bit out of habit of screening, and other things took priority,’ he said.
‘But this trend is obviously going in the wrong direction.’
He said GPs should be making bulk orders of the testing kits, which were made available last year, and be ready to hand them out to eligible patients.
‘That’s a really important way that general practice can get more engaged in the screening program,’ Professor Emery said.
‘Actually, hand them the kit and have that discussion to the patient when they’re there and even just talk them through how to do the kit.
‘There’s been relatively low uptake of that Alternative Access pathway.’
Bowel cancer is Australia’s second deadliest cancer, claiming over 5300 lives each year.
More than 15,300 Australians are diagnosed with bowel cancer annually, with one in nine new bowel cancer cases occurring in people aged under 50.
As of 1 July, people aged 45–49 will also become eligible to access free screening.
GPs can find more information on the Alternative Access to Kits Model via the NCSR.
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