National Bowel Cancer Screening Program monitoring report 2026

PI 3 – Diagnostic assessment rate

The following apply to the 73,745 participants with a positive screening test in 2024:

Australia-wide: A total of 62,981 people had a follow-up diagnostic assessment (colonoscopy) recorded – an overall Australia-wide diagnostic assessment rate of 85.4% (Table A3.10).

Sex and age: Diagnostic assessment rates were higher for females (87%) than males (84%) and were slightly lower for people aged 70–74 (82%) than for younger target age groups (87%–85% for age groups 50–64 to 65–69) (Figure 3.10).

Health-care provider: Most diagnostic assessments (57%; 35,979) recorded were performed through the private health-care system, with an additional 29% (18,343 assessments) recorded through the public health-care system (Table A3.11). The remaining 14% (8,659 diagnostic assessments) did not state through which system (public or private) the follow-up assessment was performed. As this indicator relies on information being reported to the NCSR (ACSQHC 2020), and because reporting is not mandated by the NBCSP, differences in the performance of diagnostic assessments by public and private providers should be considered in light of these limitations.

Trend: Monitoring reports before 2016 used a different methodology to analyse the diagnostic assessment rate. This means that trend comparisons with rates published in those earlier reports cannot be made. To allow trends to be compared over time, the new indicator specifications have been applied retrospectively to earlier years of program data within this report. However, note that from 2021 colonoscopy form data and MBS claims have been supplemented with Participant follow-up function (PFUF) data, so direct comparisons between 2021 and earlier time periods should not be made. Since 2021, the follow-up diagnostic assessment rate has remained in the 85–86% range (Figure 3.11).

State or territory: The follow-up diagnostic assessment rate was highest for people living in Tasmania (90%) and lowest for those living in New South Wales (81%) (Figure 3.12). Note that differences in form return and varying pathway practices for diagnostic assessment may affect the results across jurisdictions.

Remoteness area: The follow-up diagnostic assessment rate was highest for people living in Inner regional areas (87%) and lowest for people living in Very remote areas (84%) (Figure 3.13a).

Socioeconomic area: The follow-up diagnostic assessment rate was highest for people living in the highest socioeconomic areas (89%) and lowest for those living in the lowest socioeconomic areas (81%) (Figure 3.13b).

Indigenous status: Indigenous Australians had a lower follow-up diagnostic assessment rate than non-Indigenous Australians (79% compared with 86%, respectively) (Table A3.13).

Preferred language spoken at home: People who preferred to speak a language other than English at home had a lower follow-up diagnostic assessment rate than those who spoke English at home (79% compared with 86%, respectively) (Table A3.13).

Disability status: People reporting severe or profound activity limitation had a lower follow‑up diagnostic assessment rate than those not reporting such limitation (70% compared with 87%, respectively) (Table A3.13). Note that from 2025 the simplified participant details form no longer asks for self-reported disability status. This disaggregation will be phased out in future reports in favour of future data linkage projects collecting disability status.

PI 4 – Time between positive screen and diagnostic assessment

The following apply for the 73,745 participants who had a positive screening test in 2024 with a diagnostic assessment recorded:

Australia-wide: The median time between positive screen and assessment was 62 days (Table A3.18).

Sex: The median time between a positive screen and diagnostic assessment was 62 days for males and 61 days for females (Figure 3.14).

Age: The median time between a positive screen and diagnostic assessment was from 61 to 62 days across age groups (Figure 3.14).

Health-care provider: The median time between a positive screen and diagnostic assessment for people who went through the private or public health-care systems was 49 and 85 days, respectively (Table A3.19).

Around 14% of diagnostic assessments did not state through which system (public or private) the follow-up assessment was performed. As this indicator relies on information being reported to the NCSR (ACSQHC 2020), and since reporting is not mandated by the NBCSP, differences in wait times by public and private providers should be considered in light of these limitations.

Trend: Monitoring reports before 2016 did not include this analysis, so trend comparisons with data from these earlier reports cannot be made. To allow trends to be compared over time, the new indicator specifications have been applied retrospectively to earlier years of program data within this report. However, note that from 2021 colonoscopy form data and MBS claims have been supplemented with Participant follow-up function (PFUF) data, so direct comparisons between 2021 and earlier time periods should not be made. The median time between a positive screen and diagnostic assessment has been 62 days for the last three years (2022–2024) (Figure 3.15).

State or territory: The median time between a positive screen and diagnostic assessment was highest for people living in the Northern Territory (87 days) and lowest for those living in Victoria (50 days) (Figure 3.16). Note that differences in form return and varied pathway practices for diagnostic assessment may affect the results across jurisdictions.

Remoteness area: The median time between a positive screen and diagnostic assessment was highest for people living in Remote areas (80 days) and lowest for those in Major cities (58 days) (Figure 3.17a).

Socioeconomic area: The median time between a positive screen and diagnostic assessment was highest for people living in the lowest socioeconomic areas (71 days) and lowest for those in the highest socioeconomic areas (50 days) (Figure 3.17b).

Indigenous status: There was a longer median time between a positive screen and diagnostic assessment for Indigenous Australians (77 days) than for non-Indigenous Australians (61 days) (Table A3.21).

Preferred language spoken at home: Those who preferred to speak a language other than English at home had a longer median time between a positive screen and diagnostic assessment compared with those who spoke English at home (64 and 61 days, respectively) (Table A3.21).

Disability status: Participants reporting severe or profound activity limitation had a longer median time between a positive screen and diagnostic assessment (82 days) than those not reporting such limitation (60 days) (Table A3.21). Note that from 2025 the simplified participant details form no longer asks for self-reported disability status. This disaggregation will be phased out in future reports in favour of future data linkage projects collecting disability status.