June is Bowel Cancer Awareness Month, a timely reminder of the prevalence of bower cancer – Australia’s second deadliest cancer – and the importance of bowel cancer screening.
The National Bowel Cancer Screening Program is vital to reducing the number of deaths from bowel cancer in Australia. People with cancers diagnosed through the program have a 40 per cent lower risk of dying than people who had not been screened.
However, between 2018 and 2020, the annual bowel cancer participation rate for people aged 50 to 74 in South Western Sydney decreased from 36.7 per cent to 35.5 per cent. Our region has one of the lowest annual bowel screening participation rates in NSW.
In addition, only 67 of our region’s 412 general practices have practice software integrated with the National Cancer Screening Register (NCSR).
This month, we’re encouraging more general practices in our region to register for the National Cancer Screening Register.
Other important points:
- National Bowel Cancer Screening Kits can now be ordered in bulk to a practice and distributed directly to patients during consultation through the Alternative access to kits model.
- NCSR has released a Healthcare Portal, which integrates with clinical information systems to enable providers (GPs, nurses, and other specialists) to access and submit bowel and cervical screening data electronically in a self- service fashion. The portal eliminates the need for healthcare providers to contact the national register, while also making it easier for healthcare providers to submit information.