Increasing uptake of bowel screening: trial of a suggested deadline

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Increasing uptake of faecal immunochemical test (FIT) bowel screening: trial of providing a suggested deadline for FIT kit return

• IRAS ID

  263321

• Contact name

  Katie Robb

• Contact email

  katie.robb@glasgow.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde

• Duration of Study in the UK

  1 years, 2 months, 30 days

• Research summary

  Bowel cancer is the second biggest cancer killer in the UK, accounting for over 16,000 deaths per year. Screening can reduce deaths from bowel cancer if the people invited participate. The challenge is that high uptake is hard to achieve, and remains persistently below 60%. A new bowel screening test (FIT) is being introduced across the UK.
  At the moment, bowel screening test kits are mailed to people’s homes with no guidance on when the kit should be returned. People tell us that they often forget or put off completing and returning the kit. We know from breast and cervical cancer screening that giving people an appointment time increases uptake compared to an open invitation. We want to find out if giving people a deadline for returning their bowel screening kit can increase uptake of bowel screening.
  This proposal aims to increase uptake of the FIT bowel screening kit by testing the impact of providing a deadline for FIT kit return.
  This research has three connected parts. Firstly, we will ask four different groups of people who are being sent bowel screening kits to return them within 1-week, 2-weeks, 4-weeks, or without a deadline. We will then examine if having a deadline affects how many people send their completed kit back. We will then send questionnaires out to some people who completed the test and some who did not to ask what they thought about the process. Lastly, we will ask some of these people to take part in an interview to better understand why they did or did not complete their bowel screening test.

  Summary of study results:
  A lay summary of results is available at https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fclick.pstmrk.it%2F3ts%2Fwww.cso.scot.nhs.uk%252Fwp-content%252Fuploads%252FHIPS.17.23.pdf%2FNBTI%2FZWm8AQ%2FAQ%2F12901359-6012-48e2-be21-70171aa9caf8%2F2%2F4U-OKELw0z&data=05%7C02%7Champshireb.rec%40hra.nhs.uk%7C9e5965aee2d14f994ed108dd72000eed%7C8e1f0acad87d4f20939e36243d574267%7C0%7C0%7C638792066749257629%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=owAb2uIIT7vfRmaLfyrSzNGy1zkHl%2FbU3Y%2B3kT68VAg%3D&reserved=0
  

• REC name

  South Central - Hampshire B Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  19/SC/0369

• Date of REC Opinion

  15 Jul 2019

• REC opinion

  Favourable Opinion