April is Bowel Cancer Awareness Month and as part of the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB) and Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals (SWBH) are attempting to raise awareness of the disease and increase bowel screening across the region.

The Bowel Cancer Screening Programme is a national screening service for those aged between 60 and 74. Patients are sent a test kit to complete at home. This kit requires a stool sample, which is sent to a lab to look for microscopic blood.  

Those who would like a home test kit can call for free on the number below and have one posted out. If you are aged 75 and over, you can request a kit in the same way.

Tel: 0800 707 6060

The Bowel Screening Programme in Birmingham covers Sandwell Hospital, City Hospital and Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham (QEHB), however low uptake areas are West Bromwich central, Handsworth, Smethwick, Edgbaston, Balsall Heath, Bordesley Green, Moseley, Sparkhill, Springfield, Lozells, Aston and Sparkbrook. The programme is reaching out to areas with a large black minority ethnic (BME) community in particular.

There are many events happening in April featuring the programme’s inflatable bowel, including appearances at New Square, One Stop Shopping Centre and The Fort Shopping Park. For more information on the programme and these events, visit their Facebook page (see 'Links' section at the bottom of this article). The inflatable bowel, which patients can walk through, is a light-hearted but engaging way of discussing a serious topic.

Bowel cancer is the third most common cancer in the UK, causing approximately 16,100 deaths every year with more than 80% of cases occurring in those aged 60 and over. This innovative screening programme hopes to save many of these lives by detecting the signs of bowel cancer earlier in this high-risk group.

Symptoms of bowel cancer include:

• bleeding from your bottom and/or blood in your poo
• a persistent and unexplained change in bowel habit
• unexplained weight loss
• extreme tiredness for no obvious reason
• a pain or lump in your tummy

If you know of any other Bowel Cancer-related community events happening across the region, please contact Clair Millard at the Bowel Cancer Screening Programme.

Tel: 0121 507 3185