TCHHS residents urged to take bowel screening test

Residents across the Torres Strait, Cape York and Northern Peninsula Area are being urged to “choose life” and complete a bowel cancer screening test this year.

Test kits will soon be arriving at residences or post offices in all communities for residents aged 50-74, with residents aged between 45-49 also able to order them online for free through the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program.

Kits are also available at every Primary Health Care Centre for anyone who is eligible who may not have received their kit in the mail.

Screening rates in the region have traditionally been low, but Torres and Cape Hospital and Health Service is urging locals to take up the test and has partnered with local Elders for a new campaign entitled: “Choose Life. Prevent Bowel Cancer. Do the Test” as part of Bowel Screening Awareness Month throughout June.

It comes as the Health Service confirms the new endoscopy service running from Cooktown Multipurpose Health Service will become permanent after significant success during a six-month trial.

The service will continue to be provided by Dr Shane Sadleir, a Cooktown-born and raised rural generalist, along with local staff.

TCHHS Director Medical Services Eastern Dr Natasha Coventry said 35 procedures, including colonoscopies and gastroscopies, were completed during the trial which began in October last year.

“That is a significant number of patients who did not have to travel to Cairns to undergo these procedures,” she said.

“TCHHS is always committed to delivering services closer to home and this service is a fantastic demonstration of that commitment.

“We know that bowel cancer is the second deadliest cancer in Australia. Those of greatest risk are those living in remote areas, largely due to the difficulty in accessing timely colonoscopies, a procedure that can both prevent bowel cancer, but also diagnose it early, to be able to give treatment options. Bowel cancer can be completely cured if its detected early.

“We have the current capacity to do about up to 100 colonoscopies a year but can increase the service if it is needed."

“The big advantage of offering colonoscopies locally is that patients can now complete their bowel preparation at home, and then to come into hospital for a couple of hours and return home the same day."

“With colonoscopy being a procedure undertaken under sedation, patients need to be picked up by someone, and that is much easier to facilitate when close to home."

“Currently, if patients need to go to Cairns or elsewhere for a colonoscopy, they must go to a hotel or other accommodation near to the hospital they are having the procedure and then undertake their bowel preparation in that setting."

“I know many of those patients may have not attended their appointment because they did not want to travel to have it done, or couldn’t afford the additional time away from home, so having this service locally will potentially save lives.”

One of these patients was Cooktown resident Robyn Robinson who was informed she required a procedure after her bowel screening results and undertook her colonoscopy at Cooktown MPHS earlier this year as part of the new service.

“I wanted to hold it off,” she said."

“I thought of the excuses to not go but then I heard that I could get it done locally here in Cooktown and I booked it in.”

"I wasn't really stressed this time. I know how hard it is to do your bowel preparation in Cairns and the cost of travel - I didn't have that stress this time. Yeah, it was great."

"The community know about it, and they are happy. People want this service, and they want it to stay."

"People hold off - they know how hard it is to get to Cairns and how much it costs, so they hold off. They don't have to anymore."

TCHHS Executive Director Medical Services Dr Marlow Coates said they knew there was some shame and apprehension associated with the bowel cancer screening test, particularly among First Nations communities, but urged residents to do it.

“The National Bowel Cancer Screening Program aims to reduce deaths from bowel cancer by detecting early signs of the disease,” he said.

“See your GP if you have any questions about how to do the test, if you have not received your kit in the mail, or to discuss further including making a yearly health check. Don’t worry – heaps of people are sending in their poos now – it’s really easy to do.”