9. Will the First Minister make a statement on bowel cancer screening in Wales? OAQ51641

We have a well-established national population bowel screening programme in Wales, with nearly 147,000 men and women screened during 2016-17. We continually look for ways to increase uptake and recently announced the introduction of better and more user-friendly testing, which will be rolled out from January 2019.

Thank you for your answer, First Minister. Certainly, I have a constituent who's contacted me, who is over the age of 74, and their concern is they haven't been able to self-refer for a screening test themselves. This is something that is available in other parts of the UK—in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, as I understand it—and I would be grateful if the Welsh Government could consider following the position of the UK Government and the other devolved administrations across the UK.

Was it FIT, the faecal immunochemical test, he mentioned?

It was the bowel screening testing for over-74s.

We recently agreed to implement a more sensitive and user-friendly testing regime for bowel cancer screening in Wales. It's a key action within the revised cancer delivery plan. The roll-out of FIT within the bowel screening programme in Wales is planned for January 2019 and it's hoped it'll be more user-friendly and will improve uptake. That new test is expected to result in an increased demand for colonoscopy as a result of better uptake and slightly increased sensitivity.