NHS to increase accuracy of bowel cancer test in England

The main test for the UK’s second deadliest cancer is being made more accurate in England, in a move NHS bosses believe will save hundreds of lives.

The sensitivity of the faecal immunochemical test (Fit), which detects bowel cancer by spotting blood in the patient’s stool, will be increased as part of an overhaul of cancer diagnosis and treatment.

NHS England is lowering the threshold for the amount of blood detected through a Fit test needed to trigger the patient being sent for further investigation.

It is now 120 micrograms of blood a gram of stool. But that will be reduced to 80 micrograms by 2028 and will bring England into line with the threshold already used in Scotland and Wales.

“This is a major step forward in bowel cancer detection and will help save hundreds more lives from this devastating disease,” said Prof Peter Johnson, NHS England’s national clinical director for cancer.

“Testing at a lower level threshold will now provide a better early warning system for bowel cancer, helping us to spot and treat cancers earlier, often picking up problems before symptoms occur.”

About 44,100 people in Britain are diagnosed with bowel cancer every year and it claims about 17,400 lives, making it the second commonest cause of cancer death. Risk factors include eating processed meat, being overweight and drinking alcohol, leading Cancer Research UK to conclude that more than half of cases – 54% – are preventable.

“Once fully implemented testing at the lower level threshold is expected to reduce late stage diagnoses and deaths from bowel cancer by around 6%,” NHS England said. Preventing and detecting more cases earlier will save the health service £32m a year, it estimates.

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Source: The Guardian, 26 January 2026