(Update on the BowelScreen age range: From 1 April 2026, BowelScreen is for everyone aged 57 to 71).
BowelScreen is a free test you do at home. It’s for everyone aged 59 to 70 who have no symptoms of bowel cancer.
Bowel screening can save lives. It can help to:
- prevent cancer from developing by finding and removing early signs of disease (polyps)
- find bowel cancer at an early stage when it can be easier to treat.
We invite eligible people to do the test every two years.
Our uptake target
Our standard for the programme is 50%. This means that we are aiming for half of all people that we invite, to take the test.
How we calculate it
Uptake is the percentage of people that we invite to take part in BowelScreen who go on to take the home-test and return it for testing at the laboratory. We calculate it over a two-year period.
Our latest uptake figures
Our latest verified data is from the years 2022 to 2023. It shows that we invited over 617,000 people to take part in BowelScreen. Of these just over 319,000 people consented to take part and asked for the home-test (a FIT kit) to be sent to them. Over 286,000 returned their FIT kit for analysis. This gives us a verified uptake figure of 46.4%. This is similar to our uptake rate from 2020 to 2021 which was 46.6%.
The uptake rate among people who previously completed a BowelScreen FIT test is 89.2%.
How we compare to other countries
The age coverage and type of bowel screening varies across EU countries. Evidence shows that most screening programmes in Europe do not achieve uptake rates above 50%, and are below the EU’s recommended uptake levels of 65%.
What we are doing to increase uptake
Increasing uptake in bowel screening is a priority for us. A key focus for us is encouraging people invited for the first time to take part, as we know that 9 out of 10 people who do their first BowelScreen test go on to do it again when they're invited.
- We’re developing a new online registration portal which, in addition to our freephone number, will allow people to check the register to see when they are eligible for BowelScreen; order a FIT kit if they have received an invitation letter; and update their contact details.
- We are taking part in research aimed at exploring ways to improve uptake, including a Better Letters project with the Department of Health, and newly published research into targeted delivery of FIT kits along with invite letters.
- We engage in research to better understand and address knowledge gaps including a study to assess the needs of disabled people in accessing our screening programmes.
- We research, design and implement large scale evidence-based awareness campaigns for our screening programmes. We use digital and social media, print, radio and outside advertising channels to deliver our screening messages. Our campaigns aim to help people eligible for screening to make informed choices about taking part. Campaign messages tell people what screening is, what screening can and can’t do, and how to take part in screening.
- We are trialling text message reminders for people who have received a FIT kit and not yet returned it.
- We are conducting market research in 2025 that aims to inform key campaign messages and media channels to reach people aged 55 to 61 as they become newly eligible for BowelScreen. The research will use both qualitative and quantitative methods to explore the barriers and motivators to taking part in BowelScreen. The findings from the market research will help to improve our awareness raising campaigns to encourage more people to register and take part in BowelScreen.
- Our Community Champions project works with local communities to support people to take part in screening. We created a training programme and new resources to help community health workers become screening champions in their communities. Community health workers play an important role in providing culturally appropriate education and support.
- We work to increase health literacy and have developed accessible information about our screening programmes, including easy-to-read and plain English resources, and photo and video stories.
- We provide information about our screening programmes in multiple languages.
- We’ve developed an Irish Sign Language video about bowel screening.
- We use a digital survey (Patient Reported Experience Measures) to gather information from people who take part in our BowelScreen programme. The information helps us to continuously listen to the people who choose screening and identify any areas where we can improve their experience.
- We have an access officer available to help people if they need support before, during and after screening.
- We work with patient advocates to share their stories and encourage people to choose screening. BowelScreen patient advocate Joe Grogan, from Tuam, Co. Galway has shared his BowelScreen story for Bowel Cancer Awareness Month 2025. Joe took the BowelScreen test at age 59, just after we lowered the age range in October 2023. It detected his bowel cancer early. Now, Joe is encouraging others to choose screening.
BowelScreen is for everyone aged 59 to 70
From 1 April 2025, BowelScreen is available to people aged 70. This means that approximately 48,000* more invitations will be sent over the next 2 years, offering people another opportunity to reduce their risk of developing bowel cancer. Over time, we are expanding the age range for BowelScreen, increasing the eligible age range to people aged 55 to 74. We are expanding the age range gradually and in line with funding, to enable equitable access to onward testing and treatment. People aged 59 were invited from October 2023 and people aged 70 are eligible from 1 April 2025.
*Based on the most recent Census figures.