Calls for national bowel cancer screening

Calls for national bowel cancer screening

The most in-depth research on bowel cancer that's ever been carried out in New Zealand has been released, pushing the case for a national screening programme.

The disease kills 1200 Kiwis every year.

Sufferer Mary Bradley was diagnosed with bowel cancer when she was 28. After chemotherapy she now lives a happy and healthy lifestyle, but as part of the charity Bowel Cancer New Zealand she's calling for change.

"Early detection goes hand-in-hand with screening," she says.

The research studied the care of more than 5600 New Zealanders over a seven-year period.

It showed a third only found out they had bowel cancer when they turned up at the hospital's emergency department.

Watch the video for the full 3 News report.