which looks at how we can prevent more bowel cancers and detect them earlier.

Bowel cancer is one of the most common cancers accounting for around one in 10

of all cancers in England or to put it another way

someone is diagnosed with bowel cancer in the UK every 15 minutes.

Just over half of bowel cancer cases in the UK seem to be linked to lifestyle risk factors.

Not surprisingly what we eat plays a major

role in the factors that may cause bowel cancer.

The evidence has been steadily increasing and suggest that there are

risks for eating large amounts of red and processed meat, so reducing the

amount of red meat we eat and avoiding processed meats as much as possible can

help lower the risk. Other things can also make a difference such as

exercising regularly, achieving and staying at a healthy weight, stopping

smoking, and reducing how much alcohol you drink.

For those people who do get bowel cancer detecting early

can make all the difference to their quality of life and overall survival.

The earlier the bowel cancer is diagnosed the better. One year survival for

both men and women diagnosed with the

earliest stages of cancer is very good - at 98%.

We also know that bowel cancer is more likely to be detected at an earlier

stage by screening, or when a patient is sent for investigations by their GP

through the rapid two week wait referral pathway.

Unfortunately the later diagnosis are often presented as an emergency and these

patients do less well. The NHS bowel cancer screening programme is now in its

10th year. In England bowel cancer screening is offered every two years, to

men and women aged between 60 and 74.

Over the last 10 years so we have found

more than 25,000 bowel cancers through the screening alone. Screening upake

though is quite variable. Invitations are sent out regionally and while the

overall uptake across the whole country is around 56%, in some

areas only a third of people actually send their kits back.

Since screening is so important what we do to increase

the number of people who take part.

Evidence shows that bowel cancer screening uptake is better when the

individual is made aware that their GP supports the screening programme,

especially when this is combined with extra patient information. We have also

just announced that we're moving to a new test.

This is the fecal immunochemical test, or Fit.

It's more sensitive, easier to use, and only requires one sample instead

of the usual three. Pilot studies of Fit have suggested that screening uptake

could be boosted by 10% which means a further 200,000

people could be tested each year. But our ambition in Public Health England is

to see the uptake of screening increase even more so that at least

three-quarters or 75% of those people invited to take part in the test.

The key to this is working in partnership between local authorities,

Clinical Commissioning Groups and screening partners to identify any

barriers to screening in their local area.

The real challenge is to encourage people from

hard-to-reach groups to send back their screening kits.

We also know that GPs play a pivotal role in the bowel cancer screening

programme. They're particularly effective

when they support patients who were first sent their screening pack.

We would encourage you to have a look at PHE's Health Matters.

It includes blogs, video discussions, infographics, and slides. Please feel free

to use them in presentations and in discussions with your colleagues.

We hope you find this information informative and useful.

Thank you very much.