All referrals will be triaged by the Colorectal Team. Patients with a palpable abdominal or rectal mass will be triaged directly to an outpatient appointment. All other patients will be asked to submit 2 qFIT tests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
qFIT tests will be generated from Secondary Care and the results will be interpreted, and appropriate clinical action taken, by Secondary Care. <\/strong>Please remind patients that when contacted by Secondary Care they should complete and return this as per the instructions as soon as possible<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Patients will then be triaged according to their symptoms, qFIT results and patient frailty and co-morbidity to determine the next step which may be colonoscopy, CT colonography, minimal preparation CT or outpatient consultation. Patients with 2 negative qFITs and low risk symptoms are unlikely to undergo any further tests and will be discharged, with advice where appropriate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The outcome of a set of tests will be communicated directly to patients by the triaging consultants, copied to the GP. Patients who have not completed the full set of investigations will be booked into a virtual clinic for the triaging consultant to assess the residual risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n NB <\/strong>Please note that although the bowel screening programme and the Colorectal service (for symptomatic patients) both use quantitative FIT (faecal immunochemical test), the test threshold for further investigation is different for the two patient populations. In the asymptomatic population, the threshold used by screening is >80 mHb\/g but in symptomatic patients, the threshold for investigation is \u226520mHb\/g . Hence, a person may have had a \u2018negative\u2019 FIT from screening but have a test value that is \u226520mHb\/g. Therefore, a person presenting with colorectal symptoms\u00a0should not be advised<\/u><\/strong>\u00a0to request a bowel screening kit as there is a risk that abnormal results and therefore significant bowel pathology could be missed. If someone presents with concerning colorectal symptoms, please refer as advised in the pathway below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n B.C & F.D 27-11-25<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Any patient with high risk features as detailed below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/ul>\n
Who to refer:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n