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Bowel screening

The National Bowel Screening Programme is free for people aged 60 to 74 years. It aims to save lives by finding bowel cancer at an early stage when it can often be successfully treated.

Bowel screening programme

The National Bowel Screening Programme is a free programme to help detect bowel cancer. It is offered every 2 years to help find bowel cancer at an early stage.

Doing the bowel screening test

Find out about the bowel screening test, how you can do it at home and the next steps once you have received your results.

Colonoscopy

If your bowel screening test result is positive, it means you will need a further investigation. This will usually be a colonoscopy. The colonoscopy is free if you are eligible.

Bowel cancer

Bowel cancer develops when abnormal cells in the colon or rectum grow in an uncontrolled way. Aotearoa New Zealand has one of the highest rates of bowel cancer in the world.

Bowel screening privacy and complaints

Your information will be kept secure and will only be used for purposes related to the screening programme.

Bowel screening for Māori and Pacific peoples

In some areas, bowel screening is available at an earlier age for Māori and Pacific peoples, as part of a two-year evaluative implementation/learning pilot.

Downloadable posters and resources

Resources about bowel screening, bowel cancer, and the National Bowel Screening Programme are on HealthEd. This includes resources in other languages.

Bowel screening resources — HealthEd

Contact us

Contact us to find out more about the National Bowel Screening Programme.