Impact of the introduction of a new policy of direct faecal immunochemical home screening test provision in a national bowel screening programme, both during and outside of advertising campaigns

摘要

Background: BowelScreen, The National Bowel Screening Programme in Ireland, offers free colorectal screening to persons aged 60-69 through a home Faecal Immunochemical Test (FIT) kit. 40.2% uptake in the first screening round was below the programme standard (>= 50.0%). To improve uptake, an intervention saw FIT kits sent directly to previously screened clients rather than by the usual invitation process comprising a letter of invitation followed by a FIT kit if requested. The intervention proved successful and was fully implemented into the programme for subsequent clients. Despite the improved uptake it was noted over time that the unsatisfactory FIT rate was approaching the programme standard (<= 3%). The aim of this study is to compare uptake by two invite methods occurring contemporaneously alongside advertising and to compare unsatisfactory rates before and after full FIT-Direct implementation.