 Bowel cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death |
The health secretary has officially opened England's biggest bowel cancer screening unit in Surrey. Alan Johnson formally unveiled the �250,000 southern hub of the National Bowel Cancer Screening Programme in Guildford on Thursday. The unit, which serves a population of 13.4m, began testing in September. It is hoped everyone aged between 60 and 69 across the south of England will have been checked for the disease by the end of 2009. 'Saves lives' Mr Johnson said: "This hub alone is clearly making a difference with over 110 people already diagnosed with bowel cancer. "Screening plays a vital role in the prevention and early diagnosis of bowel cancer and saves lives." Staff at the unit send people aged between 60 and 69 kits which enables them to send back bowel motion samples for analysis. The laboratory, which is a partnership between the University of Surrey and the Royal Surrey County Hospital, tests the samples for tiny traces of blood to see whether a check-up is needed. The hub which serves the former area of Avon, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Sussex, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Kent, Oxfordshire, Somerset, Surrey, and Wiltshire will screen 70 to 74-year-olds from 2010. Southern Bowel Cancer Screening Hub director, Stephen Halloran, said: "Since September 2006 the hub has invited 140,000 people to participate and it has performed tests resulting in almost 900 positive results." The Royal Surrey County Hospital supported by Guildford Undetected Tumour Screening Against Cancer (Guts) has been a centre for the prevention and treatment of bowel cancer since 1983. Bowel cancer is currently the second biggest cancer killer in the UK according to the screening programme.
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