The College is introducing a new resource that explores digestion and bowel cancer screening. As part of the College’s support for Bowel Cancer Awareness Month, the new pack, ‘What does your poo say about you?’ is being launched today, and includes both hands-on and discussion-based activities, which can be used at public events and in schools. 

The pack replaces our previous ‘pooey’ resource, the very popular ‘Little bit pooey’, which featured an activity to demonstrate how the faecal occult blood ('FOB') test works to screen people for early signs of bowel cancer.  ‘What does your poo say about you?’ gives ideas on how to introduce the digestive system and how to lead into discussions and activities about bowel cancer screening.

To explore the introduction of the faecal immunochemical (‘FIT’) test, the pack features activities that help demonstrate the difference between this new antigen-based test, and the original FOB test. Participants are invited to get hands-on with fake poo and ‘FOB’ test cards as way of understanding how the real ‘poo-in-the-post’ cards have been used to screen older people for early signs of bowel cancer. They then move on to an activity that uses magnetic sheets to demonstrate how the new more accurate FIT works, and how it is making bowel screening easier and more efficient for both patients and health professionals.

The activities in the pack will be run at two events during Bowel Cancer Awareness Month; the Royal College of Nursing’s Exploring Ageing event on 11 April, and as a workshop at the School Science Conference on 24 April. Around 25 RCPath members are volunteering their time to deliver these activities and the hope is that many more will use the fun and informative new resources to run their own activities later in the year, and especially during National Pathology Week.