A CAMPAIGN starts this week across Devon and Cornwall to help combat bowel cancer.

The aim is to encourage more people to go along to their GP if they show potential symptoms of the disease, which kills 13,000 people a year in the UK.

Dr Virginia Pearson, joint executive director of Public Health for NHS Devon and Devon County Council, said: 'There's still a bit of a taboo around bowel cancer, but we have to overcome that if we're going to get people with symptoms to see their doctor early. If you have had blood in your poo or loose poo for three weeks or more, please don't waste time — go and get checked by your GP. The biggest single factor in increasing someone's chances of surviving the disease is being diagnosed early, so treatment is more effective and less intensive.'