Interval cancer - bowel cancer diagnosis after a screening colonoscopy

You can still develop bowel cancer between colonoscopies. This is called interval cancer.

Interval cancers are unavoidable. They happen in every screening programme in the world.

For every 1,000 people in Ireland who have had a BowelScreen colonoscopy:

• 997 will not get bowel cancer within 3 years of their BowelScreen colonoscopy
• 3 will get bowel cancer within 3 years of their BowelScreen colonoscopy

If you get bowel cancer after a screening colonoscopy

If you get a bowel cancer after your screening colonoscopy you can ask for a review of your last screening colonoscopy.

You will find information about how to request a review in the leaflets we send you when we:

• invite you for screening
• send you your screening result

We are updating these leaflets to include information on screening reviews.

How to request a review

Contact us by email or post to ask for a review.

Email: review.request@screeningservice.ie

National Screening Service,
King’s Inns House,
200 Parnell St,
Freepost FDN7612,
Dublin 1,
DO1 A3Y8

What to expect

After you ask for a review we will contact you to let you know if you are eligible.

It will take 3 to 6 months to complete the review.

Before your review starts

If you are eligible for a review we will:

• ask you to confirm your identity - to make sure we protect the privacy of people who use our services
• give you the contact details of the person who will be your point of contact during your review - you can contact them at any stage during the review
• ask you for your consent to access your medical records

Medical records

We may need to access your medical records to do the review. Hospitals hold your medical records. These are different to your National Screening Service records. We ask for your consent to access them.

If your medical records show a reason why we cannot do a review, we will contact you to tell you why.

How we use your personal information

Introductory meeting

We will meet you before the review starts.

At the introductory meeting we will:

• let you know what to expect from the review process
• listen to any questions you may have

Your colonoscopy review

During the review a consultant gastroenterologist (specialist doctor) in the BowelScreen unit where you had your colonoscopy will look at the outcome of your colonoscopy.

Your review meeting

We will meet you at the end of the process.

We will invite you to your review meeting where we will:

• bring you through the review of your screening colonoscopy report
• tell you if there was anything we could have done differently

We will send you a copy of your review report within 5 days of your review meeting.