Professional Expert recruitment:
- Professional Expert questionnaire: PEQ for HTG10862 COLOFIT model
- Deadline for responses: midnight on 30 June 2026
Faecal immunochemical testing (FIT) is designed to detect small amounts of blood in a faecal sample by using antibodies specific to human haemoglobin. NICE’s guidance on quantitative FIT to guide colorectal cancer pathway referral in primary care (HTG690) recommends using FIT to guide referral decisions for adults with symptoms of suspected colorectal cancer in primary care. Adults with a FIT result of 10 micrograms of haemoglobin per gram of faeces or higher should be referred in line with NICE’s guideline on recognition and referral for suspected cancer (NG12). Following referral, colonoscopy or alternative testing by CT colonography is required to confirm diagnosis of colorectal cancer or other significant bowel pathology. The COLOFIT model is a prognostic tool that combines FIT results with a person’s age, sex and blood test results to estimate their risk of colorectal cancer. This could help optimise the use of FIT to guide referral decisions. This could ensure that people with the highest risk of colorectal cancer are referred, while people unlikely to have colorectal cancer can avoid colonoscopy. It could potentially allow more efficient use of NHS resources and may be beneficial to people with colorectal symptoms.
- Status:
- In progress
- Technology type:
- Diagnostic
- Decision:
- Selected
- Prioritisation programme:
- HealthTech
- Rationale:
- Anticipate the topic will be of importance to patients, carers, professionals, commissioners and the health of the public to ensure clinical benefit is realised, inequalities in use addressed, and help them make the best use of NHS resources
- ID number:
- 10862
Provisional Schedule
- Scoping workshop:
- 22 July 2026
Project Team
- Project lead
- Bruce Smith
Email enquiries
If you have any queries please email HealthTech2@nice.org.uk
Stakeholders
- External assessment group
- YHEC
Timeline
Key events during the development of the guidance:
| Date | Update |
|---|---|
| 02 June 2026 | In progress. In progress |
| 02 June 2026 | This topic was scoped previously as HTE10011 and paused - on start up it was briefly as HTG10850. It will now be scoped as GID-HTG10862. - Note added to the project documents |
| 25 July 2023 | Stakeholder list updated |
| 18 May 2023 | Note - Note added to the project documents |
| 12 May 2023 | Scope published |
| 17 March 2023 - 05 May 2023 | Specialist committee member recruitment |
| 17 March 2023 | Launch |
| 17 March 2023 | Awaiting development. Status change linked to topic prioritisation decision being set to Selected |
For further information on our processes and methods, please see our CHTE processes and methods manual