Thankyou Gingernut,
I acknowledge absolutely that your level of knowledge on this issue far exceeds mine - I tend to see it not so much from a statistical point of view but more from real life experience.
As an aside, I was talking to an anesthetist friend who assists a gastroenterologist with sedation during endoscopies and colonoscopies. He decided - in his 40's, to also have a colonoscopy because of the number of people in their 40's who had tumours identified during this procedure.
However, I'm probably getting away from my original point in that I am not referring to just colonoscopies - I also refer to skin cancer screening, prostate cancer checks (the physical check and the PSA), cholesterol, ECG, kidney and liver function as well as a general blood count which don't appear to be routinely conducted by the average GP. Ladies, of course, require slightly different checks.
The average person does not know what screening he/she should be having and that to me is an important role of the GP. Maybe I have it all wrong but that is the way I respectfully see it.
I look forward to further comment on this topic and have also been closely monitoring the thread instigated by Loose rivets, which was one of the driving forces behind this one.
Best regards.
VH-MLE