AQW 7098/17-22 Written question to the Minister of Health
To ask the Minister of Health for an update on when the bowel cancer screening programme will restart.
Asked by Kellie Armstrong MLA on 17 September 2020
- Answered
- Written
- Tabled
- 17 September 2020
- Answer due by
- 2 October 2020
- Answered
- 25 September 20208 days after tabling
- Department
- Department of Health
- Priority question
- No
Answer
As a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic, the bowel cancer screening programme was paused from mid-March 2020. Restoration of all paused screening programmes is a priority for my Department.
In relation to bowel cancer screening, the immediate priority was to clear the backlog of patients waiting for diagnostic procedures (colonoscopy) following a positive screening test result. Consequently, Trusts recommenced colonoscopies from June and have made significant progress to date in clearing this backlog.
Routine bowel cancer screening invitations recommenced from the 17th of August through the issuing of testing kits.