SELFCheck Bowel Health Test

There are a number of reasons why both men and women may have traces of blood in their faeces, such as haemorrhoids, polyps and, in rare cases, bowel cancer

All of these conditions can be treated more effectively and efficiently if medical advice and intervention begins as early as
possible. Bowel cancer remains the third highest cause of cancer in men and women and, given the UK’s ageing population, this is unlikely to change.

Bowel health screening and other medical conditions like prostate disorders are not easily discussed and can be
embarrassing or awkward. Therefore, a simple and hygienic home screening test that can detect abnormal blood in faeces can provide men and women with help and the incentive needed to seek medical advice and help.

The benefit of carrying out a SELFCHECK Bowel Health home test in privacy ensures confidentiality as well as providing the necessary incentive needed to take further steps in terms of managing personal health and earlier consultation with a healthcare professional, which will facilitate earlier medical intervention should further action be needed.

The SELFCHECK Bowel Health Test is easy to use and uses the faecal immunochemical principle (FIT), requiring only a small sample of faeces to perform the test, giving an easy to read visual result in less than 10 minutes. As the test uses the FIT detection method, no change in diet or fasting is required prior to test.

The cut-off for a positive result with the SELFCHECK Bowel Health Test is greater than 30µg Hb/g faeces. This is more sensitive than most NHS FIT screening tests (80 to 150µg/g). The more sensitive a test is, the more likelihood of a false positive result. A cut-off of 10µg Hb/g faeces (or lower) is only used for patients in a primary or secondary care setting, who have symptoms, but should not be used for screening.