WHEN it comes to our toilet habits, many people in Britain are reluctant to share too much information.

For a dedicated team of bowel cancer experts at Basildon Hospital, the aim is to get residents in south Essex to shed their embarrassment and get talking.

Back in 2007, gastroenterology consultant Dr Javaid Subhani successfully bid for the hospital, in Nethermayne, to run a screening service for the disease, which is the fourth most common type of cancer.

April is bowel cancer awareness month, and with just over 50 per cent of eligible people across Basildon, Southend, Thurrock and Brentwood opting to take advantage of the free scheme, experts are keen to highlight the importance of early diagnoses.

Screening packs are sent out to 60 to 75 year-olds in south Essex every two years, with those over the age bracket given the opportunity to request kits.

If anything out of the ordinary is picked up in stool samples, which are discreetly posted to the screening centre, patients are invited for a colonoscopy.

A flexible tube fitted with a camera is inserted into the bowel to look for tumours or polyps, but Dr Subhani insists the scan is not painful.

He said: “The majority of people find it is not as uncomfortable as they expected. They comment on how incredibly friendly the team is.

“The standards of bowel cancer care here in Britain are higher than anywhere else in the world, and we are always looking to improve even more.

“It’s a crying shame if people don’t take advantage of this free screening service available to them because they feel embarrassed.”

Despite the success of the programme, which has tested nearly 30,000 patients over the past five years, nearly 80 per cent of patient referrals still come from the GP.

Patients with bowel cancer do not develop symptoms, including changes in bowel habits and blood in faeces, until the condition is in its later stages.

They first develop polyps, which are non-cancerous, and it can take 18 months before the growths turn into cancer.

Dr Subhani, the lead consultant for bowel cancer at Basildon Hospital, added: “It’s a very common cancer, but actually there is a lot we can do about it. Some cancers sound like a death sentence, but colon cancer isn’t like that.

“If you can get it early, it really affects the outcome for the patient.”