Half of people aged over 60 ignore life-saving bowel cancer screening

Half (51%) of people invited to bowel screening for the first time in 2015 didn’t take part, according to the latest figures from Cancer Research UK published in the European Journal of Cancer. Averaged figures from 2010-15 in England showed that those from deprived areas were less likely to participate (43%) than those in wealthier regions (57%) and more women (56%) than men (47%) returned samples from the screening kits sent out in the post. People who lived in ethnically diverse neighbourhoods were also less likely to take part (41%) than those who didn’t (56%). The current screening kit requires small stool samples