Colonoscopy
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the proportion of patients that have received a colonoscopy and subsequently been referred to cancer treatment pathways in each of the last five years.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
No estimate has been made regarding the proportion of patients, in each of the last five years, who received a colonoscopy, and who were then referred to a cancer treatment pathway. The following table shows the proportion of patients who received a colonoscopy and who were subsequently referred to cancer treatment pathways:
Year | Number of colonoscopies | Number of new colorectal cancer diagnoses | Proportion of colonoscopies that resulted in a colorectal cancer diagnosis |
2020 | 310,616 | 33,334 | 10.7% |
2021 | 483,969 | 40,847 | 8.4% |
2022 | 465,646 | 39,208 | 8.4% |
2023 | - | 40,449 | - |
2024 | - | 22,792 | - |
Source: data on the number of colonoscopies undertaken per annum in England is from the Fingertips data collection, and data on the number of colorectal cancer diagnosis per annum in England is from the CancerData data collection, with further information on both available, respectively, at the following two links:
https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/
https://www.cancerdata.nhs.uk/
Note: data on the number of new colorectal cancer diagnoses is incomplete for 2024.
Patients may receive a colonoscopy for a variety of different health reasons including, but not limited to, cancer. The Government and the National Health Service are taking crucial steps to improve cancer outcomes for patients across England, including for those with bowel cancer.
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