Last summer we shared how the introduction of Optical Diagnosis (OD) as part of Bowel Cancer Screening (BSCP) was set to reduce costs and the workload for our pathology teams. Just eight months on, the results are remarkable.

Screening Manager, Kath Thorpe, said: “It’s been an exciting time for us, as the Bowel Cancer Screening Programme, which is in its 20th year, is the first in the world to introduce OD.

“The success to date is astonishing. Nationally the NHS is saving up to five million pounds a year, and since last summer, in the Yorkshire and Humber region alone, we’ve saved over two million pounds.

Bowel Cancer Screening Endoscopist, Steve Hodge, was one of our first OD Champions. He added: “Carrying out OD has meant that to date more than 58,000 polyps identified within the national screening programme have been optically diagnosed and discarded, without requiring further histological processing by pathology teams.

"If optical diagnosis isn't carried out then every polyp would have to be sent to a laboratory for processing, with polyp costing around £37 to process. The OD process is also much more environmentally friendly as single plastic pots, labelling and energy costs of processing samples are saved.

“OD provides patients with a very quick diagnosis, speeds up patient turnaround times and frees capacity in the Histopathology department to allow them to focus on more complex analytical work.

“The OD service continues to grow, and I wanted to share my congratulations to BCSP clinician, Amanda Ross, who recently achieved her provisional accreditation and brings our team to four in number, alongside myself, Hassan (Mohammad) Bholah and Kim Clifford."

What is Optical Diagnosis (OD)?

OD involves a Colonoscopist making an optical diagnosis of small polyps (small clumps of cells). They are required to record the polyps with photographic documentation, using both white and blue light imaging, before discarding the samples rather than sending them to Histopathology.