A man whose bowel screening test came back positive was 'disgusted” to learn he wouldn't be given a colonoscopy, because he had one too recently.

John McKenzie, of Pāpāmoa, lost his mother to bowel cancer, so was 'very keen” to take part in the National Bowel Screening Programme when invited last month.

Bowel screening is offered to eligible people aged 60 to 74 every two years, to help detect bowel cancer early.

People are given a kit to collect a small sample of faeces for testing, called a faecal immunochemical test (FIT), which can detect tiny traces of blood in a sample.

John, then 74, did the test, and mailed it back. It was positive.

A positive result does not necessarily mean a person has bowel cancer. Traces of blood can also be caused by polyps, or other conditions such as haemorrhoids (piles).

The National Bowel Screening Programme website states: 'If your test is positive it means you will need a further investigation. This will usually be a colonoscopy.”

Earlier in April, John received a letter from Te Whatu Ora Hauora a Toi Bay of Plenty​ stating colonoscopies are only required if the person has not had one in the past five years.

Because he'd had one in December 2020​, the letter stated John would be invited to 'participate in the programme in 2025”, if still eligible.

John has just turned 75, so is already too old to be eligible.

The screening programme website and information given to patients does state those who've had a colonoscopy in the past five years 'should not take part”.

John can't understand then why he was invited, and was upset his positive result would not be followed up.

'If you've got blood in there, wouldn't you want to find out where it's coming from?”

John feels there's an obligation to investigate the possible cause of the bleeding, irrespective of when he last had a colonoscopy.

'How that decision [not to do one] can be made without looking at me is just ridiculous.”

He says if he couldn't get a colonoscopy through the programme, he'd wanted to pay for one.

Having recently given up his health insurance for financial reasons, this wouldn't be easy, he said: 'No retired person in a lifestyle village is wealthy.”

National Bowel Screening Programme clinical lead Dr Susan Parry​ says while a colonoscopy is the 'gold standard” for bowel cancer diagnosis, it carries 'inherent risk” – so the decision about how frequently to perform them is carefully made.

Te Whatu Ora would not comment on John's case specifically.

However, Susan did say eligible people part of a surveillance programme outside the NBSP (due to a history of, or family history of bowel cancer) are 'not excluded from being invited”.

'It is, however, explained in the information provided with the bowel screening kit that an individual should not do the test if they have had a colonoscopy within the last five years or are on a bowel polyp or bowel cancer surveillance programme.”

Susan says the 'vast majority” of people participating in the bowel screening programme who receive a positive FIT result will proceed to a colonoscopy.

There are 'a number of reasons why it may not be clinically appropriate to proceed with a [screening programme] colonoscopy, and it's important that this decision rests with a medical specialist”.

-Hannah Martin/Stuff.