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The public is largely unaware of the purpose of national cancer screening programmes, according to research presented at the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) Cancer Conference.

There are three national cancer screening programmes in the UK: breast, bowel and cervical. Mammography for breast cancer and the faecal occult blood test (FOBT) for bowel cancer are aimed at detecting cancer early. Bowel Scope, part of the English bowel cancer screening programme, and cervical screening are primarily aimed at preventing the disease.

Nearly 1,500 participants, who were in or close to the screening age range of 50-70 years old, took part in the study and were asked whether they thought the primary aim of each screening programme was early detection or prevention of the disease. The results showed that:

• There was no sign that people were aware of the differences between the screening programmes
• Only a fifth (19 per cent) of women knew the main aim of cervical screening was to prevent the disease
• Some 70 per cent of men and women incorrectly thought that Bowel Scope was primarily for early detection.

Professor Charles Swanton, chair of the 2015 NCRI Cancer Conference, said: €These results show that we need to get better at helping people to understand what cancer screening is for. Some of the problem may be that most of the public discourse has been around breast screening, which is designed to pick up cancers early.

€Along with the misconceptions over the primary focus of each of the programmes, we also know that many people are unaware that screening is aimed at healthy people who don't have symptoms.€

Harpal Kumar, chief executive of Cancer Research UK, added: €The three national screening programmes have already saved thousands of lives since they were introduced. But we also know that screening carries risks as well as the benefits. It's absolutely essential that people are able to make an informed choice about taking part in screening and that means understanding what these programmes are designed to do.€