A NEW test to help prevent bowel cancer is set to be rolled out across mid Essex by the end of the year.

Bowel scope screening consists of a test called flexible sigmoidoscopy.

Part of the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme, it helps to prevent bowel cancer by finding and removing any small growths, called polyps, in the bowel that could eventually turn into cancer.

Bowel cancer is the third most common cancer in the UK.

About one in every 18 people will get bowel cancer in their lifetime.

The programme is now being rolled out in Suffolk, north east Essex and mid Essex and is managed by Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust.

By December 2019, all men and women aged 55 and two months in all three areas will be offered screening.

Clinics for people from mid Essex will start in December at Broomfield Hospital.

These will be held during weekday evenings and on Saturday mornings.

Abby Hardy, Leading Specialist Screening Practitioner, said: “There is a higher incidence of bowel cancer in people who are over the age of 55 which is why bowel scope screening is offered when someone has reached that age.”

The screening often only takes a few minutes but the whole appointment may take about one and a half hours.

Anyone with questions or concerns about bowel scope screening should call 0800 707 60 60.