Increasing uptake of bowel cancer screening

Uptake of bowel cancer screening uptake at our practice is 32.72%, which is below the national target of 60%, but our cancer prevalence and death rate is higher than our CCG statistical mean. We examined reasons for non-response to bowel cancer screening in our patients and explored ways to promote engagement. From August 2013 to February 2014 we used three interventions in two patient groups: those turning 60 and eligible for screening (rising 60's) and non-responders to screening. Interventions used were; letter encouragement for rising 60's, staff education to increase opportunistic promotion of screening and calling non- responders to identify reasons for non-participation and encourage participation. Calls were made by either a Doctor or a Health Care Assistant (HCA); ethnicity, language spoken, caller and call outcome was recorded. Rising 60's (n=26) had an uptake of 46%, increased from 32.72%. From the non-responders (n = 73) we were unable to contact 38%, 46% was due to an incorrect or no phone number. Of those contacted main reasons for non-participation were not receiving a screening kit (n=19) and not wanting to be screened (n=14). Following calls 66% of non-responders agreed to screening. From this 66% half (50%) completed screening with a negative result. 15 non-responders refused screening following our calls, the main reason given was not wanting to know if they had cancer (n =14). Calls from doctor and HCA had similar rates of screening uptake (39% and 33% respectively). Difficulty contacting patients was an unexpected barrier to screening and will be addressed. Actively encouraging screening appears beneficial with similar responses to Doctor and HCA. There appears to be a place for increased education regarding screening and early detection of malignancy amongst patients. Overall our interventions improved screening uptake at the practice and will be continued in future.