09 September 2021 (Last updated 9 Sep 2021)

In June 2020, Clinical guidance on triaging patients with lower GI symptoms was published. This guidance supported the use of Colon Capsule Endoscopy (CCE) in patients with NG12 specified symptoms and a Faecal Immunochemical test (FIT) result of between 10-100ug/gm. Following release of this guidance, the National Cancer Team allocated funding to Cancer Alliances to establish pilot CCE clinics, where CCE would be offered to those patients on a two week wait lower GI pathway with a FIT result between 10-100ug/gm or a FIT result <10ug/gm referred due to concerning symptoms.

There are now 37 sites live across 16 Cancer Alliances, with around 600 capsules swallowed, and another 10 sites are due to go live imminently. A comprehensive evaluation is being undertaken by York University to assess the diagnostic accuracy and clinical efficacy of CCE that will inform any future roll out of the technology.

We encourage you to work with CCE pilot leads to ensure CCE is used efficiently within the lower GI two week wait pathway and to support effective management of colonoscopy capacity across symptomatic and screening endoscopy services. This will involve revising current two week referral practices. CCE pilot sites and contacts for each site can be found here and an evidence review of CCE can be found here.

Please contact scott.pygall@nhs.net if you have any questions.

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