The Marie Keating Foundation welcomes the news that the HIQA is to assess whether the State should extend bowel screening to those aged between 50 and 54 years old.
Published July 2024Read time 1 minute(s)
The Marie Keating Foundation welcomes the news that the Health Information and Quality Authority is to assess whether the State should extend bowel screening to those aged between 50 and 54 years old.
In Ireland, colorectal cancer, also called bowel cancer, is the second most frequently occurring cancer, excluding non-melanoma skin cancer, in males and the third most common cancer in females, with an annual average of approximately 2,560 new cases between 2018 and 2020.
It also accounts for an average of approximately 1,000 deaths a year.
The Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) has begun an assessment of extending the national colorectal cancer screening programme to those aged 50 and up.
The Marie Keating Foundation and the patient advocacy group Bowel Cancer Ireland previously called for the Government to reduce the bowel cancer screening age to 50, citing research which shows that one-in-five people diagnosed with the disease here is under 60 a part of our #NoRegrets campaign.
https://mariekeating.ie/noregrets24/
