E&NH0410
TV’s Dr Chris Steele invites local people
behind the bathroom door!
Awareness campaign being run to mark national Beating bowel cancer
week (23 to 29 January)
Stevenage, UK – 20 January 2010 – A pioneering new bowel cancer awareness
campaign is being fronted next week by GP Dr Chris Steele, a regular on ITV’s This
Morning programme. Chris is inviting people from all over the country – including
Hertfordshire – behind the bathroom door to learn three simple steps that could help
saves their lives.
The Trust’s specialist bowel cancer screening centre, which is based at the QEII
hospital in Welwyn Garden City and has satellite clinics at the Lister and Hertford
County hospitals, is working with the national charity, Beating Bowel Cancer to
launch the campaign in GP practices across east and north Hertfordshire, as well as
south Bedfordshire. The aim is to encourage people aged 60 and over to take part in
the NHS bowel cancer screening programme.
Commenting on the campaign, one of the Trust’s specialist screening practitioner
nurses, Jacqui Pountney, said:
“Every week, around 800 people in our part of Hertfordshire receive an invitation to
take part in our rolling screening programme. In terms of the number of test kits
returned, the take-up rate is around 50 per cent. While this is good, we want even
more people to understand the importance of taking part – especially since we
expanded the age range who qualify last April from 60-69 to 60-74 years of age.
“Screening not only detects potential cancers more quickly, which of course allows
their diagnosis and treatment to start earlier than otherwise might have been the
case, the programme can also pick up other non-cancerous conditions that can also
be treated, if required.”
2/TV’s Dr Chris Steele invites local people behind the
bathroom door!
The campaign being supported by the Trust’s bowel cancer screening team has a
short film, presented by Dr Steele, demonstrating how to the testing kits should be
used in three simple, easy-to-follow steps. The film is accompanied by posters and
leaflets, which GPs are being encouraged to display in their waiting rooms. The film
can also be viewed online at: www.bowel123.co.uk.
Mark Flanagan, Beating Bowel Cancer’s chief executive, said:
“Bowel cancer screening kits are sent free-of-charge to everyone aged between 60
and 74 in England, but currently only around half are being returned. We have
launched our 1,2,3 campaign to give people the confidence to complete the
screening kit when it arrives on their doorstep. I have no doubt that if everyone took
up screening when given the chance, bowel cancer would no longer be the UK’s
second biggest cancer killer.”
In a plea to local residents, Jacqui Pountney, concluded:
“When that bowel cancer screening envelope comes through your door, do your bit
and use the kit!”
The East and North Hertfordshire Bowel Cancer Screening Programme has been
running since March 2008. Initially people aged 60 to 69 were offered screening, but
from April 2010 screening has been offered to people aged between 60 and 74.
Currently bowel cancer is the UK’s second biggest cancer killer because many
patients are diagnosed too late. Screening can identify bowel cancer before
symptoms begin, often at an early stage when it can be treated successfully.
-ends-
For more information, please call Peter Gibson, associate director for public affairs on:
01438 781522 (direct line) or Sue Thaw, communications manager on: 01438 781736
(direct line); for out-of-hours calls, please page the duty press officer on 07659 103839.