Nurses
urged to set up screening service for bowel cancer in drive to raise early
detection figuresTEXT: OH nurses are ideally placed to prevent deaths from
bowel cancer, the annual symposium of the Association of Occupational Health
Nurses heard.
Bowel
cancer passes undetected because its early symptoms are similar to those of
haemorrhoids, Lynn Faulds Wood, former television presenter and head of the
Beating Bowel Cancer charity, told delegates.
She asked the
audience to set up a screening service for the condition and to distribute the
charity’s leaflets to employees.
There
needs to be much earlier referral to specialists, she argued. "I think
that nurses are going to be the key to influencing GPs. You have a most
fantastic opportunity to do something about bowel cancer and save lives."
The most
famous example was that of footballer Bobby Moore, whose condition went
undiagnosed for four years, when it was too late.
Faulds
Wood has had cancer, but it was treated following a diagnosis one year after
symptoms had started.
In the UK
bowel cancer affects 32,000 people a year, with a survival rate of only 40 per
cent, compare with 60 per cent in the US.
The
charity advocates a "six week" approach. If early symptoms do not
respond to treatments for more minor causes within six weeks then there must be
referral to a specialist.
www.bowelcancer.org   [email protected]  Â
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