What are the eligibility criteria for patients to participate in the national bowel cancer screening programme?

Eligibility criteria for patients to participate in the national bowel cancer screening programme primarily include adults aged 50 and over, as this is the standard age group invited for screening in the UK. The programme uses quantitative faecal immunochemical testing (FIT) to detect blood in stool samples, which helps identify individuals at risk of colorectal cancer. People within this age group who have not been diagnosed with colorectal cancer and who are asymptomatic are eligible to participate. The screening aims to detect early signs of colorectal cancer or precancerous changes before symptoms develop.

Additional eligibility considerations include the absence of symptoms that would warrant urgent referral rather than screening, such as an abdominal mass, rectal bleeding with other symptoms, or iron-deficiency anaemia, which require direct clinical investigation rather than screening. The programme is designed for population-level screening rather than diagnostic testing in symptomatic individuals.