Genevieve Edwards
Chief Executive, Bowel Cancer UK
Early diagnosis of bowel cancer saves lives. Our Early Diagnosis Programme aims to raise awareness of symptoms and improve screening uptake.
Bowel cancer is the UK’s fourth most common cancer. It’s also the country’s second biggest cancer killer.1 However, it doesn’t have to be that way, as bowel cancer is treatable and curable if it is diagnosed early.
Why is early diagnosis important?
Nearly everyone survives bowel cancer if it’s caught early, yet this drops to just one in ten people when diagnosed at the latest stage.2 That’s what makes early diagnosis of bowel cancer through symptom awareness and participation in screening so important, and why it’s such a priority for us at Bowel Cancer UK.
What are the challenges?
Some people, and even some healthcare professionals, can sometimes overlook classic red flag symptoms – like persistent tummy pain, changes in bowel habits or blood in poo – as minor or unrelated to bowel cancer, which can lead to delays in diagnosis.
Screening can catch bowel cancer before symptoms even appear, yet uptake remains low in some parts of the country, particularly in more deprived and diverse communities. National campaigns play a vital role, but they cannot always reach communities where targeted, on-the-ground work is needed most. Working at a local level to give people the information and confidence to act is equally important.
Nearly everyone survives bowel cancer if it’s caught early, yet this drops to just one in ten people when diagnosed at the latest stage
Our Early Diagnosis Programme
That’s why we’ve launched our Early Diagnosis Programme, centred in five locations –Birmingham, Croydon, Cornwall, Greater Glasgow and Clyde and Neath Port Talbot, to improve early diagnosis of bowel cancer.
This initiative will see us focus our activity in these areas, working with local GPs, pharmacists and community groups over the next 12 months to raise awareness of bowel cancer and its symptoms, encourage people to seek help from a GP and increase participation in screening.
By targeting our efforts, we can combine public awareness with professional healthcare engagement to create long-term behaviour change and ultimately save lives through earlier diagnosis of bowel cancer.
[1] Cancer Research UK. 2026, ‘Bowel cancer statistics’. cancerresearchuk.org/health-professional/cancer-statistics/statistics-by-cancer-type/bowel-cancer 2.Cancer Research UK. 2026. ‘Survival for bowel cancer’. cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/bowel-cancer/survival
