Over 7,000 patients use FIT home tests rather than scopes

A total of 7,076 patients received faecal immunochemical test (FIT) home kits instead of undergoing a gastrointestinal (GI) scope in the first seven months of 2024, according to new data from the HSE provided to the Medical Independent (MI).

In January 2023, MI reported that the HSE had recently introduced FIT testing as an additional triage tool for newly referred patients. This was part of a broader initiative that also included the expansion of capsule endoscopy services across more hospitals, supported by the HSE’s endoscopy programme.

FIT home test kits, a non-invasive alternative to colonoscopy, have been offered to newly referred patients since the beginning of 2023. Funding for colon capsule endoscopy (CCE), another non-invasive diagnostic option, is also now in place at nine sites in Ireland, up from four in 2021.

A HSE spokesperson told MI that in 2022, 1,317 patients underwent a capsule endoscopy instead of a traditional GI scope. In 2023, that number increased to 2,155. To support this initiative, the HSE has recruited nine additional capsule nurses.

Tallaght University Hospital has long offered both CCE and small bowel capsule endoscopy. The spokesperson also noted that the HSE has funded nine new CCE services, with seven already operational at Beaumont Hospital, Connolly Hospital, St James’s Hospital, and St Vincent’s University Hospital, all in Dublin, in addition to Galway University Hospital, Letterkenny University Hospital, Co Donegal, and the Mercy University Hospital, Cork. The remaining two services are being set up at Cork University Hospital and the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital in Dublin.