23 November 2021
The Bowel Screening Wales programme has begun inviting people aged 58 and 59 years old for the first time for bowel cancer screening. The programme will continue to invite those aged 60 to 74 years old who are currently invited.
Software developed and supported by Digital Health and Care Wales is supporting the bowel screening programme. The Bowel Screening Information Management System (BSIMS) is a secure web application that supports the whole screening process, by selecting people from the Welsh population for screening.
Eligible people invited for screening are sent the home screening kit in the post which is returned and tested in NHS Wales laboratories. The labs use BSIMS to keep track of the kits, record the results and produce results letters. Anyone with a positive screening result is referred for further investigations and assessment by specialist screening practitioners. BSIMS supports this process with a clinic booking module and provides a diary and online assessment form for specialist screening practitioners.
Bowel cancer is the second biggest cancer killer of men and women in Wales. Bowel screening detects bowel cancer at an early stage, often when there are no symptoms, and yet when treatment is most effective.
The bowel screening software developed in Wales is also used in Northern Ireland.
You can find out more about bowel screening by visiting the Public Health Wales website.