Every year, nearly 2,400 people are diagnosed with bowel cancer in Wales and sadly almost 1,000 people die from the disease. Bowel cancer is treatable and curable if diagnosed early, but too many people are still diagnosed at a later stage, when treatment is more difficult and outcomes are poorer.
This investment secures a Welsh location within the first phase of Bowel Cancer UK’s UK-wide Early Diagnosis Programme. The programme is being delivered in five locations across the UK, bringing together a range of activity designed to improve earlier diagnosis of bowel cancer.
In Wales, the programme will be delivered in Neath Port Talbot, working across local communities including Neath, Port Talbot and the surrounding valleys. The area has been selected because of the opportunity to improve timely presentation of symptoms and reach communities where bowel cancer may be diagnosed later.
The programme brings together several approaches to help improve earlier diagnosis locally, including symptom awareness, screening awareness, community outreach, healthcare professional education, local advertising and dedicated work with pharmacies..
The aim is to help more people recognise the symptoms of bowel cancer and feel confident acting on them. The work will also explore whether a coordinated, community-led approach can improve timely presentation of symptoms and support appropriate use of FIT testing in primary care.
Learning from Neath Port Talbot will contribute to the wider UK evaluation of the programme, helping Bowel Cancer UK and partners understand what interventions are most effective in different communities and how this approach could be developed further.
You can find out more about this work on Bowel Cancer UK’s website here.