DHCW system used in Bowel Screening expansion

10 October 2022

The Bowel Screening Information Management System (BSIMS) developed and supported by Digital Health and Care Wales is being used in the expansion of the Bowel screening programme to people aged 55, 56 and 57.

The BSIMS is a secure web application that supports the whole screening process, by selecting people from the Welsh population for screening.

172,000 more people in Wales will start to receive easy to use kits that test for the early stages of bowel cancer, following the expansion of the home testing programme. The simple to use test kits are automatically posted to eligible people every two years. Participants provide a faeces sample at home and then send it back for analysis.

For the first time, from October, people aged 55, 56 and 57 will start to be invited for screening, as part of the expansion of the programme. The programme will be rolled out to the newly eligible age group gradually over the next 12 months. Evidence shows that screening people at a younger age enables more bowel cancers to be picked up at an earlier stage, when treatment is likely to be more effective and survival chances improved.

Dr Sharon Hillier, Director of the Screening Division at Public Health Wales, said:

“I’m delighted that we are expanding the bowel cancer screening programme to include those aged 55 - 57 in Wales. Bowel screening aims to find cancer at an early stage when treatment is likely to be more effective. Early detection is so important as at least 9 out of 10 people will survive bowel cancer if it’s found and treated early. Bowel screening also detects and removes pre-cancerous polyps that if left in the bowel could develop into cancer. The invitation and test kit will be arriving via post to those who are eligible over the next 12 months”.