Thousands of people with condition to be invited for screening

Thousands of people with a condition that increases their risk of developing certain cancers will be offered preventative screening on the NHS. Lynch syndrome - a genetic condition - impacts about 175,000 people in England.

Only 5 per cent of those with the inherited condition know they have it. It increases the risk of several types of cancer, including bowel, pancreatic and ovarian. According to the NHS, about 1,100 bowel cancer cases in England are caused by Lynch syndrome.

People with the condition will now be invited for bowel screening every two years in a bid to detect the disease in earlier stages. Steve Russell, national director of screening and vaccinations for the NHS, said: "Our successful bowel cancer screening programme already helps identify thousands of cancers each year, and now thousands more people who have been diagnosed with Lynch syndrome will also be given regular colonoscopies to check for signs of cancer and to detect the disease earlier."

Join our WhatsApp Top Stories and Breaking News group by clicking this link

"Ensuring people who we know are at a greater risk of developing cancers get regular screening is key to diagnosing cancers at an earlier stage, and I'd encourage everyone invited to come forward and get their screening at a local centre near them."

About 10,000 people in England are on the Lynch syndrome register. Nicola Theis, a university lecturer from Cheltenham, was told she has the condition after her dad's diagnosis. She said: "It all started when my dad was diagnosed with advanced bowel cancer in 2019 and only given months to live, which you can imagine was devastating for our family."

"I'd researched the importance of genetics in finding the most appropriate