Bowel cancer: 'Go private for tests', says advisor

Patients should go private for bowel cancer tests, a Government advisor has said, after it emerged that half of local health authorities are failing to provide them fast enough despite millions of pounds of extra funding.

Dr Nick Summerton, who sits on the Department of Health's early cancer diagnosis panel, said some patients were having to wait months for the camera probe tests, as NHS capacity was "saturated".

The East Yorkshire GP, said: "I had a patient recently and it was three months before he got his test. He subsequently died of bowel cancer."

He said patients "should have the opportunity" to pay for faster access to bowel cancer tests if, like many, they were not deemed clinically urgent enough for tests like colonoscopies or flexible sigmoidoscopies within two weeks.

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