Transcript:

Dr. Ann Robinson, general practitioner: In Britain, we have a relatively poor success rate for bowel cancer because we tend to go to the doctor quite late, because we say to ourselves, "Oh, it's probably just piles or nothing." Or, "I'm a bit embarrassed." Or, "I don't like to bother the doctor." So, you don't go.

It's not actually because the treatment of bowel cancer is any worse in this country than anywhere else, because actually it isn't. It's just that we, as a general public, as a general rule, are a little bit reticent.

In the vast majority of cases, if you get an itchy bottom and a bit of bleeding on the toilet paper, and you can feel a bit of a lump, you've got piles. Piles are just like varicose veins that you get in the legs. That's what piles are in the back passage.

(Text on screen): Should I go to my GP if I think I've got piles?

Dr. Ann Robinson: You need to go to the doctor because every so often, somebody who's got bleeding from the back passage has actually got something going on higher up in the bowel like early signs of bowel cancer.

And bowel cancer is one of those conditions that if you catch it early, it's curable. Entirely curable. And if you leave it late, it's not curable.

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