Faecal Immunochemical Testing (FIT) looks for traces of blood in a stool sample that are too small to see with the naked eye. This can be an early sign of cancer. This test is part of the Bowel Cancer Screening Programme which everyone is invited to who are aged 54-74. It is a non-invasive test which can help your doctor understand the health of your digestive system before they refer you for further invasive testing.

The improvements we will be working with partners to achieve are:

• 80% of lower gastrointestinal (the lower part of the digestive system) urgent suspected cancer referrals are made based on a FIT result.
• Fewer than 20% of colonoscopies on the urgent suspected cancer pathway to be performed without a FIT being completed first.
• FIT result parameters to be adjusted so that fewer patients require an invasive colonoscopy unnecessarily, if there is a normal full blood count and examination.

This year we will be focussed on ensuring FIT is fully rolled-out across all of our East Midland’s footprint, to ensure patients are receiving the best available care.