Repeat invitations for bowel scope screening - A feasibility study.
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Repeat invitations for Bowel Scope Screening non-attenders: A single-stage phase II study exploring the feasibility and basic level of efficacy of repeat invitations to facilitate uptake in previous non-attenders.
IRAS ID
145912
Contact name
Christian von Wagner
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
UCL
Research summary
Bowel cancer is a major public health concern in England, one accounting for one in every eight cancer incidences and one in every ten cancer deaths. Bowel Scope Screening (BSS), also known as Flexible Sigmoidoscopy (FS) screening, can prevent bowel cancer by finding and removing small, benign growths (called polyps) in the bowel before they turn cancerous. It is estimated that the introduction of BSS in England could save 3,000 lives each year; however, effectiveness is dependent on uptake, which, at present, is scarcely half the invited population. The benefits of increasing uptake are such that, over the lifetime of a screening cohort, spending up to £88 per person to increase the uptake of BSS from 54%, to 70%, would result in an overall cost-saving. In the faecal occult blood (FOB) based bowel cancer screening programme, prevalence screening uptake (the proportion of the eligible population completing at least one screening episode) increases with each subsequent round of repeated invitation (from 55% in the first instance, to 63% following two rounds of repeated biennial invitation). At present, no such re-invitation process exists for the BSS programme. In this study, we will explore the feasibility of repeat invitations to facilitate uptake in people who do not attend their initial BSS appointment, and will test whether repeat invitations are likely to meet the basic level of efficacy worthy of further investigation in a definitive trial. The study will take place at the St Marks Bowel Cancer Screening Centre in Harrow, over a ten week period (September-November, 2014). At the end of the study, if it is found that repeat invitations facilitate uptake of BSS by people who miss their initial appointment, plans will be made for a definitive randomised controlled trial.
REC name
South Central - Oxford B Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/SC/1246
Date of REC Opinion
1 Sep 2014
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion