Detect Cancer Early

Scottish Bowel Screening Programme

Bowel cancer is the third most common cancer in Scotland, after lung and breast cancer.  Every year almost 4,000 people are diagnosed with the disease.

Bowel cancer is more common in people over 50 years of age, especially in men and one in twenty of us over 50 years of age will get bowel cancer at some point in our lives.

The Scottish Bowel Screening programme invites all men and women in Scotland between the ages of 50 to 74 for screening every two years.

Eligible patients will receive a Faecal Occult Blood (FOB) test kit by post to their home address.  The kit is completed at home and returned to the national Bowel Screening Centre for Scotland, which is based in Dundee at King’s Cross Hospital.

The Centre tests all completed screening tests and notifies all participants of the results.  If a screening test is positive the participant will be referred to their local hospital for further assessment.

Screening is important because if bowel cancer is detected early enough through screening there is a 90% chance of treating the disease successfully.

You can help combat this disease and keep yourself healthy by participating in the screening programme when you are invited to do so and by ensuring that you inform your GP if you change address or contact details.

For further information on the Bowel Screening Programme, or (if you are part of the eligible population) to request that a new kit be sent to you if for any reason you did not complete the test that was sent to you, contact the Bowel Screening Helpline on 0800 0121 833

Cervical Screening

From June 2016 all women aged 25 -64 will be invited for screening. Those aged 25- 49 yrs every 3 years and 50- 64 years will be every 5 years.   The test is designed to pick up any changes in patients so that they can be effectively monitored or treated.   It is estimated that cervical screening saves around 5,000 lives in the UK every year and prevents 8 out of 10 cervical cancers from developing.  The cervical cancer screening programme in Scotland is opperated by the Scottish Cervical Call Recall System (SCCRS).  Eligible patients will receive invitations and reminders from SCCRS to make an appointment at the surgery.  The test will be done by one of our nurses and the result will be notified directly to the patient by SCCRS.

Breast Screening

Breast cancer is more common in women aged over 50 and the Scottish Breast Screening Programme (SBSP) invites women aged between 50 and 70 years old for screening every three years.  The Programme aims to reduce the number of women who die from breast cancer by finding it at an early stage when it is too small to see or feel, using breast x-rays (mammograms).  NHS Inform provides information on its website (www.nhsinform.co.uk/screening/breast) or on 0800 22 44 88 about the screening process and the risks and benefits.

All women, at any age should regularly check their breasts for any changes.  This includes those under the age of 50 and even those who take part in the screening programme.