Written question asked by Jeremy Hunt (Conservative) on Wednesday, 6 December 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 12 December 2006. It was answered by Baroness Winterton of Doncaster (Labour) on Tuesday, 12 December 2006 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Bowel Cancer Screening

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average cost was of establishing a National Bowel Cancer Screening Programme hub; and what the annual running costs of each hub were in each year since their introduction.

Answer: The average cost of setting up a programme hub is £250,000. When fully operational, each hub will serve a population of around 10 million people. Each test costs 48p per head of primary care trust population, so the average annual running costs of each hub will be £4.8 million.Within the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme, five programme hubs across England will invite men and women to participate in screening, send out the faecal occult blood (FOB) testing kits, analyse the returned kits and send results out. 90 to 100 local screening centres will provide endoscopy services for the 2 per cent. of men and women who have a positive FOB test result.The five hubs have been confirmed as Rugby (West Midlands and the North West—began operations in July 2006), Guildford (Southern—began operations in September 2006), St. Marks (London—began operations in October 2006), Gateshead (North East) and Nottingham (Eastern). All five hubs will be operational by March 2007.

Secondary information