PATIENTS will be screened for bowel cancer quicker than ever before through a new Peninsula Health-run clinic. Peninsula Health has set up a nurse-led clinic as part of the federal government’s national bowel cancer screening program. Now the clinic has opened, patients with a positive faecal occult blood test can be seen by a nurse independently within two weeks.
Peninsula Health head of gastroenterology, associate professor Marcus Robertson, said that the new clinic would speed up the screening process. “By training and supporting our outpatient ANUMs, the establishment of this clinic means any patient who gets referred to Peninsula Health with a positive faecal occult blood test can now be seen by our nurses independently,” he said. “The nurse will assess their patients’ results and organise a colonoscopy at Peninsula Health, giving them access to the procedure a lot sooner. Patients are able to receive all of their procedural instructions and a date for their procedure at the one appointment.
“There is a greater than 95 percent chance of successful treatment if bowel cancer is detected early. A colonoscopy commonly detects either bowel cancer or other pre-cancerous conditions such as large polyps, which have the potential to become bowel cancer in the future. If we can pick it up before it reaches that point and remove it, then the patient has a better outcome.
“This has been a fantastic collaborative effort between our endoscopy clinic team led by Dr Kim Be, along with the outpatient and surgical booking teams. We received amazing support from Jodi Villani, the acting NUM of outpatients to implement the new clinic.”
More than 15,000 Australians were diagnosed with bowel cancer last year. Australians aged between 45 and 74 are eligible for the free bowel cancer screening test, which can be taken at home every two years.
First published in the Frankston Times – 11 March 2025