Shock over lack of cancer screening

Worried medics fear people in Walsall are increasing their risk of succumbing to bowel cancer due to poor take up of screening services.

A Bowel Cancer Awareness Event was held at the Hive Community Hub in Willenhall in a bid to raise awareness of the disease, understanding symptoms and getting help and treatment as early as possible.

And consultants who spoke at the meeting revealed many people were being presented to Walsall Manor Hospital as emergencies with the cancer being in the latter stages, significantly reducing their chances of survival.

The event, which was set up two years ago, is held at the Hive monthly and is thought to be the only one of its kind in the West Midlands.

It was organised by former councillor Ian Shires and members of the Colorectal team at Walsall Manor Hospital.

He represented Willenhall North on Walsall Council for more than 40 years, survived bowel cancer despite missing two tests and shared his story to urge people not to avoid screening.

Mr Shires, who is now a patient advocate for West Midlands Cancer Alliance (WMCA) delivered the message at the event that cancer ‘isn’t the death sentence it used to be’.

Mr Muhammad Tayyab, Consultant General/Colorectal Surgeon at Walsall Manor Hospital also gave a talk at the event.

He said: “We’ve noticed the population in Walsall, quite a high percentage, is presenting to hospital with bowel cancer at a late, advanced stage.

“Four out of 10 people with bowel cancer are coming as an emergency so that means they’re blocked or perforated and the prognosis will be worse.

“At that time the trust was highlighted to have the some of the worst outcomes in the country.

“We looked at all the pathways and we identified various points where we could intervene and make a difference.

“With four out of 10 patients coming as an emergency, we couldn’t intervene, so we decided to go out in the community and start raising the process.

“Things have changed and awareness has gone higher. We still feel Walsall needs more attention. The 4/10 number has improved and now we have one of the best results in the country in terms of outcomes for bowel cancer. It’s a team effort from Walsall colerectal team.

“But early cancer diagnosis, the uptake in bowel cancer screening is still less than 50 per cent. Which is shocking. That is a dramatically low figure.

“The purpose of such events is to target the population who are not engaged and not involved or responding to their FIT test.

“If someone has symptoms, they can contact their GPs and receive help before they are a bit late in their diagnosis.

“The earlier diagnosis saves lives. If you’re diagnosed at stage one and two, there is an almost 90 per cent chance you will get cured.

“Diagnosed at stages three and four, the diagnosis drops significantly. That is the striking difference. We want to push as many people from three and four to one and two. That will make a huge symptoms.”

He said cancer doesn’t always have symptoms. But if people start experiencing unexplained  weight loss, changes in bowel habits, bleeding from the bottom, bloating of the belly and pain in the stomach should seek medical help.

He said: “The message to the public is attend the bowel cancer screening programmes. perform the test, return the kit and any questions, contact the team and they will be able to help.”

Stephen Odogwu, Consultant Surgeon at Walsall Manor Hospital, added: “A lot of the time, people don’t take screening up because of fear.

“And it’s either because some people don’t like touching poo but also fear of the test. People are afraid of colonoscopys – but it’s not that bad. It’s not as painful or comfortable a procedure as people think.

“The other thing is the fear fo the diagnosis. People fear someone is going to tell them they have cancer but bowel cancer is a slow grower and slow progressing thing so if it’s picked up earlier, the better.”