CANCER nurses at Harrogate are mounting a campaign to persuade people to set aside any thought of embarrassment over their bowels and seek help if they suspect they night have a problem.

Displays have been set up at Harrogate District Hospital and at the town's Victoria Centre and Asda store to highlight the issues surrounding bowel cancer, the second most common cause of cancer deaths with more than 33,000 people diagnosed each year.

Margaret Jennings, Harrogate Health Care Trust's colorectal specialist nurse, said: "Our aim is to break the taboo surrounding bowel cancer.

"One of the things that holds people back from seeking help when they need it is embarrassment about bowels, so we thought we would bring the subject out into the open.

"There is a huge lack of knowledge about symptoms, but bowel cancer is one of the most successfully treatable forms of the disease if people know the warning signs and go to their doctor when they really ought to."

Research has shown that two out of three people are unaware of symptoms. They include persistent change in bowel habits, bleeding, a lump in the abdomen and a severe colicky abdominal pain.