New Zealand Lowers Bowel Screening Age to 58, Expands Lifesaving Tests

Thousands more New Zealanders are now able to access bowel screening earlier, with the starting age being lowered from 60 to 58 across the central and lower North Island, and MidCentral to follow as the next district, Health Minister Simeon Brown says.

From this week, the starting age for bowel screening is being lowered from 60 to 58 across the central and lower North Island, meaning the lower screening age is now in place across the rest of the country, with MidCentral to follow as the next step in the rollout, Mr Brown says.

This means thousands more people will have access to lifesaving screening, giving them the best chance of having bowel cancer detected early, when it can often be successfully treated.

Around 40,000 additional people will become eligible in the first year, with the majority of newly eligible 58-and 59-year-olds to be invited for free bowel screening by April 2027. The expansion is expected to prevent an additional 771 bowel cancers and 566 deaths over 25 years, compared with the previous screening age of 60 to 74.

The programme is being expanded in stages to make sure services have the workforce and endoscopy capacity needed to safely support more people being screened.

The Government is committed to lowering the screening age further, and this marks the first milestone toward aligning New Zealand's screening age with Australia.

Alongside the bowel screening expansion, the rollout of the FIT for Symptomatic pathway is continuing nationwide, with full implementation expected by the end of September.

The FIT for Symptomatic pathway is a separate but critical part of our plan. It delivers two key benefits: helping detect bowel cancer earlier in people with symptoms, including those not eligible for routine screening, and making better use of colonoscopy services.

The pathway gives people of any age with bowel cancer symptoms access to a simple, non-invasive test, similar to the one used in the National Bowel Screening Programme. It uses a stool sample to check for traces of blood, an early warning sign of bowel cancer.

Rather than referring all symptomatic patients for colonoscopy, clinicians can use the FIT test as a triage tool to identify who needs urgent investigation and who does not. People at low risk can avoid an unnecessary procedure, which is expected to reduce non-urgent colonoscopy referrals by at least 30 per cent. This frees capacity for people who need further investigation and supports the safe expansion of the screening programme.

In MidCentral, the FIT for Symptomatic pathway will roll out on 20 April, establishing the foundation for the lower screening age to rollout as soon as possible. Together, these steps will help prioritise patients, make better use of colonoscopy capacity, and support the safe next step in the programme's rollout.

As the screening age is lowered, more people become eligible, which increases demand for follow-up colonoscopies. This pathway ensures those at highest risk are prioritised, while also improving our ability to detect cancer earlier in people experiencing symptoms, including those younger than the screening age.

The pathway is already available in Auckland, Counties Manukau, Waitematā, Waikato, and Hawke's Bay, with the remainder of the country to follow by the end of September.

Mr Brown says the expansion of screening and the FIT for Symptomatic pathway are part of the Government's wider work to improve access to diagnostics and cancer care.

By lowering the bowel screening age to 58 and rolling out the FIT for Symptomatic pathway, more New Zealanders can access lifesaving tests and detect cancers earlier, ensuring hundreds more New Zealanders live longer, healthier lives.