The age for free bowel screening will drop for people in Auckland, Northland, and the South Island from Monday.
The Government announced the age would drop from 60 to 58 earlier this year.
It also ended a pilot programme that allowed Māori and Pacific people to access bowel cancer screening starting at age 50.
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Health Minister Simeon Brown said the age for free screening will drop for the rest of the North Island in March next year.
He said this was the first step in the goal of lowering the screening age to match Australia.
Australia currently offers free bowel cancer screening to people aged 45 to 74.
“The first step is lowering the eligibility age from 60 to 58. This means thousands more people will now have access to lifesaving testing, giving them the best chance of having bowel cancer detected early, when it can often be successfully treated,” Brown said.
He said lowering the starting age to 58 will see 122,000 people become eligible for free screening in the first year, and over the next 25 years, this change is expected to prevent 771 bowel cancers and save 566 lives.
Brown said the goal was to bring the age down even further, and building colonoscopy capacity was key to achieving that.
The Government is also introducing a new nationwide pathway called the FIT for Symptomatic test.
The test uses a stool sample to check for traces of blood – an early warning sign of bowel cancer.
“It will allow anyone of any age with bowel cancer symptoms referred to a specialist to quickly assess their risk without needing to wait for a colonoscopy,” said Brown.
The FIT for Symptomatic pathway has already been launched in Waikato and will be introduced in Counties Manukau, Waitematā, Hawke’s Bay over the next two months, and then nationwide next year.
“This will free up specialist capacity by prioritising colonoscopies for those at highest risk and reducing unnecessary referrals, leading to shorter wait times, faster diagnoses, and more resources to expand screening,” said Brown.
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