The points I would like to make are as follows:

1 The bowel screening service is a totally non invasive/non risk procedure

2 Vaughan Gething makes the statement-- "Bowel screening aims to identify cancer at an early stage when treatment is likely to be more successful and to identify and remove polyps that might otherwise go on to develop into cancer. The natural history of bowel cancer is such that it takes, on average, 10 years for a polyp to develop into cancer. If, following the recommended period of bowel screening, no polyps are detected in the bowel by the age of 74, the risk of premature death from bowel cancer is accordingly lower. "

This strikes me as a highly ageist remark.

The impression received is, that by the time we get to 84, it doesn’t matter if we die from bowel cancer.

3. When we have the last faeces test at 73 or 74, we do not know for certain that we do not have any polyps.

The test is only for faecal blood, and there could be polyps present that are not yet bleeding, which would make themselves

evident at the next screening.

If we do not have another test after 74, and visible faecal blood appears in the stool later, it may then be untreatable.

4. Vaughan Gething also states---"Eligibility criteria for population bowel screening in Wales are based on the latest available evidence. Current guidance from the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) recommends that routine screening should be provided to both men and women up to 74 years of age.

This is true, but in England, if you wish to have a test after the age of 75, you may ask for one.

5.I realise that some people do not take up the test, (I dont know the percentage), and this is a waste of NHS money.

However, if someone over the age of 74 goes to the trouble of requesting a test, it is very unlikely they are going to waste it.

6. I would like this request for a test to be available to people in Wales, as well as to those in England.

Otherwise welsh people are put at a great disadvantage.