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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]
