CPD — Older men’s health and bowel screening: An opportunity for community pharmacy
In the June 2026 edition of IPU Review, Dr Paul J. McCague provided an overview of the BowelScreen programme and its importance in the early detection of bowel cancer. In recognition of International Men’s Health Week, Dr McCague focussed specifically on older men who have the lowest uptake rate of all of the people eligible to take part in the free national bowel screening programme. This article is available at ipu.ie/ipu-review.
In 2023, the age range started to expand, and we are now screening everyone aged between 57 and 71 years. The age range for bowel screening will be expanding incrementally over the next few years, eventually to 55 to 74 years. A plan to reduce the lower age to 50 is also underway, as per a recent HIQA recommendation to the National Screening Advisory Committee and Ministerial approval.
Everyone in the updated eligible age range (currently 57 to 71 years) who is on the BowelScreen register will receive a letter which invites them to order a free test to be sent to their home. The information on the register comes from the Department of Social Protection, and sometimes a person may find they are not automatically invited because their details may be out of date or inaccurate. In that case, anyone aged 57 to 71 years can go online and add themselves to the register on hse.ie/bowelscreen or phone our information team on our Freephone number 1800 45 45 55.
Once the person requests their home test kit, BowelScreen will post it out to them. They use the kit to take a small sample of stool, insert it into the tube provided, and send it back in the prepaid envelope. They will receive their result within four weeks. If the result is not normal, they will be called for a colonoscopy at a local unit. Only four out of every 100 tests result in a colonoscopy.
Currently, bowel screening has the lowest uptake of our three national cancer screening programmes which includes BreastCheck and CervicalCheck. Research has shown that people can be very reluctant to do the test when they are first invited. However, we also know that once they have done the test once, their likelihood of doing it again is close to 90%. So, the initial hurdle is the hardest one to overcome. By raising awareness of the availability of the test, its convenience and lack of cost, and its potential to prevent as well as detect bowel cancer, we can encourage those who are eligible to give the test a go.
What are the reasons that people are reluctant to take part in BowelScreen? Market research that we carried out in 2024 showed that:
The Community Pharmacy Agreement 2025 acknowledges the positive influence that community pharmacists have within their local community when it comes to health promotion. We all know that every contact counts and taking the opportunity to promote and encourage screening to all eligible people can make a big difference.
Our 2024 market research showed that advice from a healthcare professional was a significant positive factor in their choice to participate, with men more likely than women to say they would take part in screening if their healthcare professional advised them to — 65% of men compared to 54% of women.
HSE Circular NCO-28-2026 was issued by the HSE in July of this year outlining how to opt-in to provide this service. Pharmacies that opted-in to deliver this service are required to:
To support pharmacists and their teams to be fully informed when speaking with patients and customers about bowel cancer and bowel screening, we have developed a set of three short educational modules, which can be viewed at any time. The combined modules take just over 20 minutes to complete.
Each module covers a different topic related to bowel cancer and screening, and they can be viewed altogether or separately.
We have also developed a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document to accompany these education modules, which includes many of the common queries we receive from healthcare professionals and patients.
During October and/or November, participating pharmacy teams will attach a promotional sticker to prescription bags for those in the eligible age range of 57 to 71 years. It will encourage people to talk to their pharmacy teams about BowelScreen.
This will be supported by an extensive communications campaign to the public which will raise awareness of the role of community pharmacies in relation to BowelScreen and supporting patients wishing to access information about the service.
Image 1: Promotional BowelScreen sticker for prescription bags
Dr Sarah Fitzgibbon, Primary Care Clinical Advisor, National Screening Service
Highlighted Articles
