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Published: 05 November 2025

BowelScreen participants share positive experiences in patient survey

We’ve published our 2024 BowelScreen Reported Experience Measures (PREMs) survey report.

Most survey participants were positive about the care they got from BowelScreen.

About PREMs

PREMs is a digital survey. We send a text message to our screening participants inviting them to take part in the survey if they get:

  • a normal result after doing the BowelScreen home test
  • a ‘not normal’ result after doing the BowelScreen home test and then go on to have a colonoscopy.

The survey captures the experiences of our BowelScreen participants. This helps us to find out:

  • what we are doing well
  • where we can make improvements to the programme.

Survey participants

  • We invited 8,062 screening participants to do the survey.
  • 3,518 people took part in the survey.
  • 1,775 were female and 1,743 were male.

Overall experience

9 out of 10 people said their experience of BowelScreen was either good or very good.

Net Promoter Score

A net promoter score is a simple way to measure how likely people are to recommend a service to others. BowelScreen achieved a score of 76, which is considered exceptional.

Home test kit

Most survey participants agreed or strongly agreed that:

  • the home test kit was easy to use (98.6%)
  • the test kit leaflet was easy to read and understand (99.4%).

Colonoscopy preparation and procedure

Most people (87%) reported mild to no discomfort during their colonoscopy.

  • 98.7% of participants agreed that we gave clear information on what they needed to do to prepare for their colonoscopy.
  • 95.6% said the instructions for taking the bowel prep medicine were easy to understand.

Quality improvement

We ask survey participants to suggest improvements we could make. We use this feedback to continue to improve the BowelScreen experience for people who choose screening.

Here are some of the improvements we are making:

  • We’re making our instructions easier to read and adding clearer dietary advice for the week before bowel prep.
  • Some hospitals are testing follow-up calls the day after colonoscopy for people more affected by sedation.