OC-116 Bowel screening wales—first round report

Introduction This report describes the first round of Bowel Screening Wales (BSW). It is the first overview showing the entire performance of the national bowel screening programme in Wales. Methods The first round for BSW took place between 27 October 2008 and 24 November 2010. The Bowel Screening Information Management System obtains demographic information directly from the Welsh Demographic Service (WDS). This is the basis for the activity and outcome data presented here. This report is based on information available to BSW on the 1 August 2011. Results A total of 847 773 invitation letters were issued to 412 025 participants. 55.2% of participants invited returned a completed test kit within six months of invitation date. Women have a higher uptake (58.8%) compared to men (51.5%). Uptake around Wales varies between areas, ranging from 49% in Wrexham and Cardiff to nearly 59% in Anglesey and Bridgend. Initially, positive rates were as expected at around 0.2% for Faecal Occult Blood (FOB) kits, rising to 0.5%. Positive rates for both test kits were 2.3% and 2.4% in early 2009, rising to 3% during 2009. Around 1% of Faecal Immunochemical Test (FIT) kits were spoilt compared to 1.8% of FOB test kits. 6807 participants with a positive test result made an assessment appointment, waiting on average around 2 weeks. 82.7% attended the appointment; the majority were by phone with only seven participants attending face to face. 5594 participants were found fit for colonoscopy and offered the procedure. 89.4% of these attended with 2.8% declining and 0.2% not attending. Waiting times for colonoscopy were on average around 10 weeks. Abstract OC-116 table 1 shows the final outcome of the 5230 colonoscopy procedures. Conclusion The first round of screening was very successful demonstrating a pathology yield of over 70%. BSW face ongoing challenges with interesting new developments for a maturing programme. BSW is now well placed to begin planning further age expansion and development. Competing interests None declared.