Bowel cancer is a general term for cancer that begins in the large bowel. Depending on where the cancer starts, bowel cancer is sometimes called colon or rectal cancer.

Cancer can sometimes start in the small bowel (small intestine), but small bowel cancer is much rarer than large bowel cancer.

Bowel cancer is one of the most common types of cancer diagnosed in the UK.

The 3 main symptoms of bowel cancer are:

• persistent blood in your poo – that happens for no obvious reason or is associated with a change in bowel habit
• a persistent change in your bowel habit – which is usually having to poo more and your poo may also become more runny
• persistent lower abdominal (tummy) pain, bloating or discomfort – that's always caused by eating and may be associated with loss of appetite or significant unintentional weight loss

Most people with these symptoms do not have bowel cancer. Other health problems can cause similar symptoms.

See a GP If you have any of the symptoms of bowel cancer for 3 weeks or more.

To detect cases of bowel cancer sooner, everyone aged 60 to 74 who is registered with a GP and lives in England is automatically sent a bowel cancer screening home test kit every 2 years.

If you're 75 or over, you can ask for a kit every 2 years by phoning the free bowel cancer screening helpline on 0800 707 60 60.

For the screening test, you use a home test kit to collect a small sample of poo and send it to a lab. This is checked for tiny amounts of blood.

FIT (Faecal Immunochemical Test) is a test that looks for blood in a sample of your poo. It looks for tiny traces of blood that you might not be able to see and which could be a sign of cancer.

Traces of blood in your poo can be caused by other medical conditions and doesn’t necessarily mean you have cancer. But if it is cancer, finding it at an early stage means treatment is more likely to work.

Everyone aged 60 to 74 years who is registered with a GP and lives in England is automatically sent an NHS bowel cancer screening kit every 2 years. The programme is expanding so that everyone aged 50 to 59 years will be eligible for screening. This is happening gradually over 4 years and started in April 2021 with 56 year olds. Make sure your GP practice has your correct address so your kit is posted to the right place.

If you're 75 or over, you can ask for a kit every 2 years by phoning the free bowel cancer screening helpline on 0800 707 60 60.

You collect a small sample of poo on a small plastic stick and put it into the sample bottle and post it to a lab for testing.

There are instructions that come with the kit. But you can also find instructions here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bowel-cancer-screening-kit-how-to-use

Regular NHS bowel cancer screening reduces the risk of dying from bowel cancer.

If you're worried about a family history of bowel cancer or have any symptoms, speak to a GP for advice.