Bowel screening age drops to 56 from today
From today, the starting age for free bowel screening is being lowered to 56 for thousands of New Zealanders, Health Minister Simeon Brown says.
"As part of Budget 2026, the Government announced it would take the next step towards matching Australia by lowering the bowel screening age from 58 to 56," Mr Brown says.
"That $45.6 million investment is funding hundreds of thousands of additional screening kits and will support more than 6,200 additional colonoscopies over four years as a part of the expansion.
"The lower starting age takes effect today in Auckland, Waikato, Gisborne, Wairarapa, the West Coast, and South Canterbury, with the rest of the country to follow in April next year.
"This means more than 200,000 additional New Zealanders will have access to lifesaving testing over the next two to three years, giving them the best chance of having bowel cancer detected early, when it can often be successfully treated."
Over the next 25 years, lowering the starting age to 56 is expected to prevent a further 638 bowel cancers and save 522 more lives.
"Lowering the age from 60 to 58, which began rolling out last year, is already making a difference.
"Around three-quarters of newly eligible 58- and 59-year-olds across the country have been invited to screen, and so far 1,320 people have returned a positive result and 37 cancers have been detected."
Bowel screening kits are a simple at-home test that can help find bowel cancer early, when treatment is most effective. People who return a positive bowel screening test result are offered a follow-up investigation, usually a colonoscopy. During a colonoscopy, pre-cancerous growths can also be found and removed, helping prevent future cancers. Eligible participants are sent a free kit every two years until they turn 75.
Mr Brown says the National Bowel Screening Programme is being expanded in stages to ensure services have the workforce and endoscopy capacity needed to safely support more people being screened.
"Every time the screening age is lowered, more people become eligible, more positive results need follow-up, and more colonoscopies are required. Building that capacity is what allows us to keep bringing the age down.
"That's why, in July, we rolled out the FIT for Symptomatic pathway nationwide, which provides the opportunity to give people with bowel symptoms a simple home test. It helps clinicians identify who most urgently needs a colonoscopy, so those patients can be seen sooner. Health New Zealand expects it to reduce colonoscopy referrals for people with symptoms by up to 30 per cent, freeing up the specialist capacity needed to keep lowering the screening age.
"Bowel cancer is New Zealand's second-biggest cancer killer, with more than 1,200 people dying from it each year. By continuing to lower the screening age and building the capacity to support it, we are catching more cancers earlier and saving hundreds of lives.
"We remain committed to lowering the screening age further, and today's change is another important step towards aligning New Zealand with Australia."
