116,000 more people eligible as HSE expands bowel screening to ages 57 and 71

This Bowel Cancer Awareness Month, HSE BowelScreen, Ireland’s free bowel screening programme has announced the fourth expansion of its eligible age range since 2023.

From 1 April 2026, the HSE is offering screening to everyone aged between 57 and 71, extending the previous age range of 58-70 by two years. This means we will invite 49,000* people aged 57 and 67,500* people aged 71 over the next two years.

Over time, the HSE will expand the screening programme to people aged 55 to 74.

Who will get an invitation

• We invite people for screening every two years.
• 57-year-olds can expect their first invitation for bowel screening between their 57th and 59th birthday.
• People aged 71 who have previously taken part will be offered their next test when they are due.
• If you have never taken part in bowel screening and are in the age range, you can request a free test kit using our online register.
• Most people who are eligible are on our register. If you haven’t received a test when expected, you can check you are on our register, provide your contact details, and find out when your test is due.

Check if you are on the register.

Around 2,500 people are diagnosed with bowel cancer in Ireland every year. It is the second most common cancer in men, and the third in women in Ireland. The goal of BowelScreen is to reduce deaths from bowel cancer by helping to identify people in the eligible population who may be at increased risk and find cancer early when treatment can have better outcomes. 

Every year around 3,000 people have growths called polyps removed from their bowel after their screening test showed they were at risk. These are all potential cancers prevented.

Screening is for people who don’t have symptoms. Anyone with symptoms should visit their GP, even if they have had a recent normal bowel screening test.

Minister for Health, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, said: The latest expansion of the BowelScreen Programme by the HSE’s National Screening Service means 116,000 more people will have even more opportunities to come for screening. Just one screening test in your lifetime can reduce the likelihood of developing bowel cancer. This will ensure that more people across Ireland can benefit from early detection, timely treatment, and ultimately better outcomes.

I encourage all those eligible to take up their BowelScreen invitation, and to engage with our screening services.

Dr Alan Smith, Consultant in Public Health Medicine, HSE National Screening Service, said: BowelScreen plays an important role in preventing bowel cancer and in detecting it early, before symptoms have started. Completing the BowelScreen FIT kit test is easy and takes 5 minutes in your bathroom at home. All we need is a small sample of your poo. It’s the best test we have to find people who are at higher risk of developing bowel cancer.

A screening test is not a diagnostic test – it looks for a level of blood in your sample and if that bleeding is above a certain level we will invite you for a follow up procedure called a colonoscopy to find the cause of the bleeding. Not all cancers or polyps bleed all the time, so a normal result does not guarantee that cancer isn’t present. This is why it is so important to be aware of symptoms of bowel cancer and go to your GP immediately even if you had a recent normal screening result.

How BowelScreen works

• We send you a letter inviting you to take part in screening.
• You request your kit online using the QR Code on your letter, or by phoning or emailing us.
• We send your home test kit. You send us back a small sample of your poo for testing.
• We test your sample. Most people (96 out of 100) get a normal result – this means that no blood is found, and they are sent another test in two years. If blood is found above a certain limit, you will be referred for a further test called a colonoscopy.
• A colonoscopy is done in one of our 16 hospital endoscopy units. A camera on the end of a thin flexible tube is used to look inside your bowel. Pre-cancerous changes (polyps) can be removed during the procedure. Removing polyps helps prevent cancer developing.
• Of the small percentage of people who have colonoscopies, approximately 1 in 20 will have a cancer detected through screening.

Hilary Coffey Farrell, BowelScreen Programme Manager, said: BowelScreen aims to reduce mortality from cancer through prevention and by finding it earlier when it is easier to treat. Please do the test when we invite you. Our new online register makes it easy to request your test kit. Just scan the QR code on your invitation letter and request your kit or contact us by phone or email – all the details are in the letter. Since the launch of our updated registration site, 70% of people invited for BowelScreen have used the site to order their test kit. If you don’t send your test back, we send you a reminder by text message and if you need a new test kit, we will send it to you.

Almost everyone (89% of people) who has done the test before does it again. If we’ve invited you before and you didn’t do the test, Bowel Cancer Awareness Month is a reminder of the importance of bowel screening. Log onto the HSE website to find out more.

Check you are registered and request a kit

You can also call 1800 45 55 55

BowelScreen is part of the HSE’s National Screening Service.