A potentially life-saving bowel screening programme is coming to the Bay of Plenty in 2021.

The National Bowel Screening Programme was recently rolled out in Waikato and the BOP is now set to follow suit.

The NBSP is a free programme aimed at detecting bowel cancer early. It is offered every two years to men and women between the ages of 60 and 74.

Those eligible are sent an invitation letter, a consent form and a free bowel screening test kit, with instructions on how to use it. The test can be done at home and is simple to do.

Bowel cancer, also called colon, rectal or colorectal cancer, is the second highest cause of cancer death in New Zealand. Around 3000 New Zealanders are diagnosed with bowel cancer every year and more than 1200 die from it.

It is often referred to as a silent disease but early detection is key toward a favourable outcome.

Bowel screening also detects and removes bowel polyps, growths in the bowel wall, which can turn cancerous in time.

So far, 15 DHB have joined the programme with the Ministry of Health aiming to have a national roll out of the programme completed by the end of 2021.

'The roll out of the National Bowel Screening Programme in the Bay of Plenty is expected to begin in late 2021, subject to a successful ‘readiness' assessment by the Ministry of Health,” says National Bowel Screening Programme BOPDHB project manager Rachael Cotton-Bronte.

'The programme is important because it aims to save lives by finding bowel cancer at an early stage when it can often be successfully treated.”