MARTIN DE RUYTER/Stuff
From early June, bowel screening kits will start arriving in the mailboxes of West Coast people aged 60 to 74, provided they are registered with a general practice. “Many people don’t realise that there might be a problem . taking the test and returning their test sample could quite literally be a life-saver.” The board also expected to detect some pre-cancerous and non-cancerous polyps (small growths) through the testing. “In these instances, the participants will become part of our surveillance programme. Finding and removing polyps early dramatically increases people’s chance of a successful outcome,” Wheble said. On the Coast, about 6505 people would be eligible to take part during the first two years of the programme, he said.