PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
BOWEL CANCER SCREENING (29 November 2017)

That this House calls on the Government to acknowledge that 50 is the internationally-recognised optimal age at which bowel cancer screening should begin; further calls for a commitment from the Government to reduce the age for bowel cancer screening from 60 to 50 in England to bring policy in line with Scotland, and for the devolved administrations in Wales and Northern Ireland to also follow suit; notes that bowel cancer is the UK's second biggest cancer killer and that around 41,000 people are diagnosed with bowel cancer each year, more than one in 10 of whom are in their 50s; further notes that being diagnosed early, stage 1, offers a 97 per cent survival rate, while being diagnosed late, stage 4, carries a survival rate of just seven per cent; notes the online petition in support of lowering the screening age to 50 on Change.org which has gathered the support of over 375,000 people, and counting; and welcomes the recommendation from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence that the FIT test should be used to guide referral of possible bowel cancer patients, giving GPs a clear alternative to endoscopy as a first line of investigation and potentially delivering substantial cost-savings.

Sponsored by:
Stephen Lloyd (Liberal Democrat)