News
NHS England lowers bowel cancer screening threshold
NHS England has announced it is to lower the threshold for a home-screening kit to trigger urgent cancer testing from February 2026, with the NHS checking thousands more people identified with even smaller traces of blood in their stool samples. The NHS estimates the change could help detect
around 600 more bowel cancers early each year in England – around an 11% increase – and find 2,000 more people with high-risk polyps in their bowel, allowing patients to have preventative surgery before any cancers develop. The home-testing kit, known as the faecal immunochemical test (FIT), is offered to all people over 50 years old and checks for blood in a small stool sample, which can be a sign of bowel cancer. By reducing the level at which traces of blood in a FIT test trigger further investigation – from
120 micrograms of blood per gram of stool down to 80 – the NHS will offer 35% more screening colonoscopies each year to help diagnose or rule out bowel cancer. The move coincides with the launch of new digital alerts that let people know that a screening kit is on its way. This is in a bid to boost uptake, as part of the new National Cancer Plan, which aims to transform cancer care by 2035. Peter Johnson, National Clinical Director for
Cancer at NHS England, said: “This is a major step forward in bowel cancer detection and will help save hundreds more lives from this devastating disease. Testing at a lower threshold will now provide a better early-warning system for bowel cancer, helping us to spot and treat cancers earlier, often picking up problems before symptoms appear. Earlier detection can mean less intensive
treatment and ensures the best chance of survival and, in many cases, people could avoid facing cancer altogether by having dangerous polyps removed before they cause harm.” Once fully implemented, testing at the lower
threshold is expected to reduce late-stage diagnoses and deaths from bowel cancer by around 6%, while saving the NHS £32 million each year. The lower threshold will be rolled out across the country by March 2028.
Low vitamin D levels shown to raise risk of hospitalisation by 33%
Severe vitamin D deficiency is associated with a higher rate of hospitalisation for respiratory tract infections such as bronchitis and pneumonia, according to a new study. Researchers from the University of Surrey, in
collaboration with the University of Reading and University of Oxford, found that those with a severe deficiency (below 15 nnmol/L) were 33% more likely to be admitted to hospital for treatment than those with sufficient levels of vitamin D (at least 75 nmol/L). Scientists also found that for each 10 nmol/L
increase in vitamin D, the hospitalisation rate for respiratory tract infections decreased by 4% Abi Bournot, Lead Author at the University of
Surrey, said: “Vitamin D is vital to our physical wellbeing. Not only does it keep our bones and muscles healthy, its antibacterial and antiviral properties are also thought to help reduce the risk of respiratory tract infections that can lead to hospitalisation. This research attaches hard
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www.clinicalservicesjournal.com I March 2026
UCL research leads to new NHS treatment for patients with high-risk prostate cancer
Men with high-risk, locally advanced prostate cancer in England will soon be offered the drug abiraterone on the NHS, following landmark findings from the UCL-led STAMPEDE trial. NHS England announced that newly diagnosed men, whose prostate cancer has not spread, will be able to receive the hormone therapy, while patients with similar risk profiles in Wales and Scotland already have access to the drug on the NHS. The groundbreaking STAMPEDE trial showed that adding abiraterone to the standard treatment, for men with high-risk non- metastatic cancer, could halve the risk of death from the disease and slow overall progression. Responding to the news, trial co-lead
Professor Gert Attard (UCL Cancer Institute), said: “This is a hugely welcome moment for patients. Our research showed clearly that abiraterone can save lives when offered earlier to men at high risk of their cancer spreading. “Funding for this disease indication is already
data to support the
theory...Supplementation of the vitamin, especially in the winter months when our exposure to sunlight is limited, is an effective way of increasing vitamin D and reducing the risk of serious respiratory tract infections. This is particularly important for older people who are at higher risk of death from such infections, and ethnic minority communities in the UK, who are at a higher risk of vitamin D deficiency.” The study was published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
available in Scotland and Wales, so we are delighted that NHS England has acted on this evidence and will now make this highly effective treatment routinely available.” In England, around 8,000 men will be eligible for the drug every year and, within this group, it will reduce deaths from prostate cancer by around 50%, from about 1,900 to fewer than 1,000. Abiraterone works by stopping the cancer spreading by starving the disease of the hormones it needs to grow, such as testosterone. The drug is given in combination with a steroid called prednisolone, and will be given alongside standard care treatments, including androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) and radiotherapy. A total of 1,974 patients were enrolled into the trial. After six years of monitoring, the proportion of men alive on abiraterone was 86%, compared to 77% on standard treatment (hormone therapy with or without radiotherapy). This equates to a 12% increase in survival rate. In addition, abiraterone reduced the risk of disease progression or metastasis by nearly half. Researchers at The Institute of Cancer
Research (ICR) with funding from Cancer Research UK discovered abiraterone and developed it with colleagues at The Royal Marsden.
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