Endoscopy services

The Health, Social Care and Sport Committee welcomed your views on endoscopy services in Wales.

Terms of reference:

The Health, Social Care and Sport Committee called for evidence about the actions needed to deliver a step change in the survival rates for bowel cancer in Wales, focusing on:

• Earlier diagnosis, specifically the introduction of the Faecal Immunochemical Test (FIT) into the bowel screening programme and the recently announced change to age range.
• Diagnostic service capacity and waiting times, including the extent to which capacity constraints are driving the recommendation to set the FIT threshold for its introduction to the bowel screening programme at a relatively insensitive level.
• The long term and sustainable solutions to the challenges that exist within endoscopy services in Wales, including how data on diagnostic staffing pressures is being used to inform decisions about current and future workforce planning.
• Consideration of other early diagnosis interventions and innovation, such as the introduction of FIT testing by general practitioners in symptomatic patients to reduce referral for diagnostic tests.
• Efforts being taken to increase uptake of the bowel screening programme.

The deadline for responses was 5 November 2018.