Bowel cancer is the second most common cancer in both men and women in Northern Ireland and there are more than 1,000 new diagnoses and over 400 deaths each year in Northern Ireland. If bowel cancer is detected at an early stage there is a much greater chance that treatment will be successful.

The Northern Ireland Bowel Cancer Screening Programme was set up by the Public Health Agency in April 2010. The aim of the programme is to detect bowel cancer at an early stage, when there are better chances of treatment being effective.

For further information contact Dr Tracy Owen, Consultant in Public Health Medicine, PHA tracy.owen@hscni.net  or visit the NI Bowel Cancer Screening website http://www.cancerscreening.n-i.nhs.uk/bowel/toc.html