Patients attending the symposium will highlight ways services can be improved

Jola Gore-Booth, Colon Cancer Concern

Bowel cancer is the third most common cancer in the UK affecting 34,000 people each year.

Hundreds of patients will participate in a workshop on Monday morning at the Royal College of Surgeons of England in London.

They are expected to call for government action to ensure patients with suspected bowel cancer are seen and treated faster on the NHS.

They are also expected to demand an end to unnecessary investigation of patients, and steps to improve awareness of the disease among GPs.

Priorities

Their demands will be presented to Junior Health Minister Hazel Blears and the government's cancer tsar Professor Mike Richards on Monday afternoon.

The symposium is being organised by Bowel Cancer Forum, a coalition of cancer charities from across the UK.

Jola Gore-Booth, chief executive of Colon Cancer Concern, said the meeting would help the government in its efforts to improve cancer services.

"The National Cancer Plan actually highlights the need for patient involvement in developing cancer services. We feel that we are supporting that through this symposium.

"Patients attending the symposium will highlight ways services can be improved and those priorities will be presented to the minister and experts."

An estimated 1,000 patients took part in workshops on how services can be improved over the course of the last month.

The "patient parties", held across the UK, were organised by the Bowel Cancer Forum to find out how patients' priorities for improving patient care and treatment.