Scottish Bowel Screening Programme
The programme commenced roll out in June 2007 with NHS Boards phasing onto the Programme up until December 2009 as agreed with NHS Board Chief Executives.
All men and women between the ages of 50 – 74 are being invited to participate in the programme through completion of a faecal occult blood test at home every two years. The Community Health Index (CHI) is the key patient identifier throughout the screening episode.
A Scottish Bowel Screening Centre has been established at Kings Cross Hospital in Dundee consisting of the call-recall office, helpline and laboratory. When implementation is complete around 740,000 people will be issued with a home test kit every year and individuals will be screened once every two years. The central laboratory carried out the tests on home test kits and the centre refers positive screening test results via the Bowel Screening IT System (BoSS) directly to the relevant local colorectal service for further investigations.
A Scottish Bowel screening Manual has been developed setting out the background to the programme, the programme specification, more information about the Bowel Screening Centre along with identifying roles and responsibilities for the programme. The manual will help ensure that NHS Boards operate to a common set of protocols and procedures.
The Manual and more information is available on the Bowel Screening website.
Annual Report
The most recent annual report for the Bowel Screening Programme is available below:
Scottish Bowel Screening Programme Annual Report 2009/10 [8 pages, 296Kb]
National Services Division contacts:
To contact members of NSD staff, please visit our staff contacts page.
Janice Birrell, Programme Manager
Tracey Curtis, Assistant Programme Manager
Carol Woods, Programme Support Officer
