During late February 2008 personal invitations were mailed to 400 patients between 55 and 75 years who had no previous history of bowel cancer. They were invited to call personally at either the Riccarton or Redcliffs Medical Centre in Christchurch, New Zealand to buy a $5 self-test kit and return stool test samples during the following month.

The Rotary Club of Riccarton (district 9970) subsidised the purchase of the Hemosure™ IFOBT kits and wanted to confirm whether this test method is acceptable to the general public of New Zealand. It is already widely used in Australia.

Of the 387 test kits that trial participants bought, 221 (92.86%) were returned with samples to Redcliffs and 130 (87.24%) to Riccarton Medical Centre. The numbers of male and female respondents were approximately equal.

The researchers reporting on this project processed and presented all results anonymously. Participants were individually notified of their test results.

At Redcliffs 12.2% and at Riccarton 12.84% of the tests had blood positives.