According to Department of Health statistics, bowel cancer is the second highest cause of cancer deaths in the UK, killing approximately 16,000 people annually, with approximately 30,000 new cases diagnosed every year.  However, 90% of those diagnosed survive if the disease is caught early enough.

Bowel cancer, which has few, if any, symptoms in the early stages usually, begins with a benign (pre-cancerous) polyp which, if detected sufficiently early, can be removed and the cancer can be prevented.  Approximately 25% of the population already has these polyps before they are fifty.    It can take up to ten years for these polyps to become cancerous so any opportunity to have these polyps removed at an early stage should be taken up.    Research shows that screening using faecal occult blood tests can significantly reduce the risk of death from bowel cancer.  The main reason for this is that screening allows bowel cancer to be detected in asymptomatic people at an earlier stage when the chances of a cure are much greater.