THE SDLP’s Mark H Durkan has welcomed a response from the Department of Health that cancer bowel screening test faecal occult blood (FOB) will be replaced by the faecal immunochemical test (FIT) this June.
While acknowledging this is a positive move he remarked the implementation has been a long time coming.
And Mr Durkan has criticised current colonoscopy waiting times across Northern Ireland.
Under England NHS rules, patients should not wait any more than six weeks for endoscopy tests inclusive of colonoscopy, that can diagnose bowel cancer. Yet the average waiting time for a colonoscopy in the North is 27 weeks.
Said the Foyle MLA: “The fight to introduce the faecal immunochemical test (FIT) has been a long one; almost four years since the UK National Screening Committee recommended its use as the primary bowel screening test for bowel cancer, the Department have now confirmed that FIT will be fully operational by June 2020.
“Considering that bowel cancer is one of the biggest cancer killers here, it is lamentable that the implementation of this life-saving test has taken so long.
“However, I hope the extension of FIT accessibility across all age groups is not just considered by Minister Swann but delivered without further delay.
“We only have to look at waiting time figures for colonoscopy in the North to understand that alternative modes of testing are not sufficient.
“The department must review the unacceptable 27-week average wait across the North, to ensure patients with suspected bowel cancer can be diagnosed as soon as possible and to reduce people’s anxiety in the interim during what is an already stressful time.
“We know that if detected early, this disease is both treatable and curable.
“As screening is the best way to get diagnosed early, reducing our current colonoscopy waiting times alongside committing to FIT, which is significantly more accurate than the current FOB programme, is just common sense.
“We cannot afford any further delay on this matter which for many is a case of life and death.”