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INSERT PRACTICE HEADER
Patient Name
Patient Address
Date
Dear [insert patient name],
Important information about the Bowel Cancer Screening Programme
You were recently invited to take part in the NHS England National Bowelscope Screening
Programme which is offered to people aged 55 and is a one off test; you would have been invited
to an appointment at the bowel cancer screening centre. I have been advised that you have either
not attended a bowelcope screening appointment. I would like to encourage you to reconsider
your decision and take the opportunity to do the test.
Bowelscope screening is done by a specially trained nurse or doctor at a bowel cancer screening
centre. If you decide to arrange an appointment a letter will be sent which will include an enema
which is a liquid used to clear the poo out of your large bowel. This is so the nurse or doctor can
get a good look at your bowel. This is a one off test.
A specially trained nurse or doctor at the bowel cancer screening centre will put a thin flexible
tube into your anus and looks inside your large bowel using the tiny camera. Bowel scope
screening looks at the lower part of the large bowel because that’s where most polyps are found.
If they find any polyps, they usually remove them straightaway. Sometimes the nurse or doctor
takes a tiny piece of the bowel (a biopsy) to be looked at under a microscope. Neither removing a
polyp nor having a biopsy are painful. For every 300 people screened, it stops 2 from getting
bowel cancer and saves 1 life from bowel cancer.
If you would like to participate in the bowelscope screening, you can call the screening freephone
helpline on 0800 707 6060.
If you need further information and advice, please call the freephone helpline on 0800 707
6060 or visit the website www.cancerscreening.nhs.uk. You can of course contact me or INSERT
NAME OF ALTERNATIVE CONTACT at any time to discuss any concerns you may have.
Yours sincerely
INSERT GP NAME AND ELECTRONIC SIGNATURE
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