A LIFE-SAVING cancer screening programme has been launched in Bolton.

The borough has been chosen as one of 12 nationally to screen for bowel cancer among the most at risk group - people aged between 60 and 69. Bowel cancer is the third most common form of the disease in the country.

The Royal Bolton Hospital, which will develop the programme, will receive £750,000 each year for the next three years and it is expected around 100,000 will be screened over the next two years for the potentially fatal disease.

As well as patients in Bolton, the hospital will also be screening people in Leigh, Salford, Wigan and Ashton and is the first place in Greater Manchester to offer the service.

Dr George Lipscomb, consultant gastroenterologist at the hospital, said: "We're one of the first hospitals to do this, so others will be learning from our experiences.

"We will be picking up cancers at a very early stage, or changes that would eventually become cancer but have no symptoms, so ultimately we will be saving lives."

People in the most at risk groups will be sent a letter, telling them they will be sent a testing kit, which they can use at home and return their sample through the post.

It will be tested and if anything suspicious is discovered, patients will attend a community clinic, which will be at Lever Chambers Centre for Health in the town centre. If further tests or treatment are required, this will be carried out at the hospital.

Dr Lipscomb said: "We're very pleased to be one of the first hospitals because we will be picking up early stage cancer or changes, which in three to four years, when some other hospitals will first beginning the screening programme, will be much more serious and it could be too late for these patients."

Each year in Bolton, between 120 and 150 people are diagnosed with bowel cancer, and between 60 and 80 patients will die because of the disease.