The Irish Cancer Society (ICS) has urged the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) and the Department of Health not to “chip away” at the age limits set for a new national screening programme for bowel cancer.
The National Cancer Screening Service (NCSS) has recommended the establishment of a screening programme for bowel cancer for men and women aged 55-74 years. According to the NCSS’s first annual report, the board has submitted its recommendations to the Minister for Health and is awaiting the findings of a Health Technology Assessment (HTA) by HIQA on the cost-effectiveness and resource implications of the population-based scheme.
In the Republic, bowel or colorectal cancer is the second most commonly diagnosed cancer among both men and women. About 1,900 new cases are detected every year and 930 people die from the disease. Despite having called for a screening programme to target those aged 50-75 years, the Irish Cancer Society has welcomed the NCSS recommendation to test 55-74 year olds every two years with immunochemical faecal occult blood tests as the primary screening tool.
However, the society has expressed concern that the health authorities could be tempted to reduce the target age group further or choose to go with older, less sensitive tests due to current budgetary constraints.
“There are a couple of fences still to be jumped in terms of getting to where we want to go,” explained Joan Kelly, ICS nursing services manager. “One is that HIQA comes back and says that this is the age group we want and the technology we want. They may come back and say there is not enough evidence. The other hurdle could be that the Department of Health might state that it does not want to screen 55 year olds, and starts chipping away at that.”
Minister for Health Mary Harney has set aside €1 million to prepare for the roll-out of colorectal cancer screening. However, a decision on further funding to build and staff the dedicated units required for the resulting colonoscopies will be determined largely by the Colorectal Cancer Screening Programme HTA currently being carried out for HIQA by a team led by Dr Linda Sharp of the National Cancer Registry.
This group will report in the first quarter of this year.
The ICS wants the Department of Health to follow the example of the Scottish Bowel Screening Programme, which invites all men and women aged 50-74 for screening every two years.
“The danger is that the department will say money is tight; we’ll just run it for a different age group, taking a few years off each side,” warned Ms Kelly. “We feel that the Scottish programme would be better.”