January 2012
Each year, about 33,000 people are diagnosed with bowel cancer – and an estimated 13,000 people die from bowel cancer every year. It is the second most common cancer in women and the third most common amongst men. Dr Harris and Dr Maiden together with Spire Tunbridge Wells Hospital are continuing to raise awareness of this disease, which can often present no or minimal symptoms.
Bowel, or colorectal cancer can take between five and ten years to develop and can be found anywhere in the bowel or rectum. Many bowel cancers begin as polyps or small growths, which are often non-cancerous and can generally be removed easily. However, depending on how long they are left they can become cancerous. Often, bowel cancer can spread to other parts of the body, including the liver. Eight out of ten cases of bowel cancer are diagnosed in people over 60.
At Spire Tunbridge Wells Hospital we back the Bowel Cancer Awareness Month and are now offering our patients:
- Rapid access to a Specialist Consultant- Dr Harris or Dr Maiden
- No waiting list for investigations
- We are happy to offer patients a discounted bowel cancer awareness consultation with a Consultant Gastroenterologist (£100) and discounted package for Colonoscopy (£1600)
To read more about what a colonoscopy procedure is please follow Spire Tunbridge Wells Hospital, Colonoscopy.
Top tips for spotting the symptoms of bowel cancer:
- A change in your normal bowel habit lasting four weeks or more
- Bleeding from the bottom and/or blood in your stools
- Extreme tiredness without obvious cause
- A pain and/or lump in your abdomen
For more information on bowel cancer, please visit www.bowelcanceruk.org.uk
To book an appointment at Spire Tunbridge Wells Hospital please call our customer care team on: 01892 741 150 or click here to complete our enquiry form.