What bowel screening is and who it's for

You can get free bowel screening through the national bowel screening programme - BowelScreen to:

• stop you from getting bowel cancer
• find bowel cancer

You collect a sample of poo at home using a BowelScreen home test kit. Then you send it back to us for testing.

This is to find tiny traces of blood in your poo, which can be a sign of:

• bowel polyps (growths) that can turn into cancer over time
• cancer at an early stage before you notice symptoms

Finding cancer early means it’s often easier to treat.

Getting a free BowelScreen home test kit

Who can get a free BowelScreen home test kit

Bowel screening is for anyone age 57 to 71.

If you have symptoms of bowel cancer

Steps involved in bowel screening

Find out the steps involved in getting a BowelScreen home test kit and getting your results.

Choosing to have bowel screening

To help you choose if you want to have bowel screening, you can read about what bowel screening can and cannot do.

Find more ways to reduce your risk of getting cancer.

Go to the bowel screening register

We put together a register (list) of people who can have bowel screening.

From age 57, you can check if you're on the register. We can add you if you're not. You can also make sure we have your up-to-date contact information.

If you're on the register we send you a letter with your COR ID number. This is your unique BowelScreen number.

Bowel screening register

Getting your free BowelScreen home test kit

You need to contact us to order your first free home test kit. You can do this even if you do not have a letter yet.

You use the kit at home to collect a sample of poo and post it to to be tested in a lab.

Lab testing and results

A scientist in a lab checks your sample for traces of blood that are too small for you to see.

We will send you the results 4 weeks later. Most results are normal.

If your results are not normal we will tell you if you need more tests.

Know signs and symptoms

Even if your result is normal you still need to know and check for signs and symptoms of cancer. Anyone can get cancer at any time, even after screening.

Bowel cancer can still develop after a normal bowel screening result.

Symptoms of bowel cancer

Regular bowel screening

If your results are normal, you will get your next home test kit in the post 2 years later.

Irish and English guides to bowel screening

You can download guides to bowel screening in Irish and English:

• About bowel screening (PDF, 599 KB, 16 pages)
• Irish: Maidir le scagthástáil phutóige (PDF, 593 KB, 16 pages)

BowelScreen screening information videos

Watch this video to find out what bowel screening is and how you can get screened in Ireland.

Translated videos

Our video about BowelScreen is available in more than 20 languages including Irish, Ukrainian and Russian.