The National Bowel Screening Programme is a free programme for people aged 60 to 74 years.
It aims to save lives by detecting bowel cancer at an early stage when it can often be successfully treated.
This is an invitation-based screening programme and is available nationwide.
To be invited, you must be:
- aged 60 to 74 years
- eligible for publicly funded health care
The screening test is quick and simple to do by yourself at home.
Bowel screening is for people who don’t have any symptoms of bowel cancer. If you have any bowel symptoms which concern you, please talk to your doctor straight away.
The starting age for free bowel screening is being lowered to 58 years. The new age range will be introduced in some regions of New Zealand from October 2025, and will be in place throughout the country from March 2026.
For further information go to timetoscreen.nz, free phone 0800 924 432, or talk to your doctor.