A NHS bowel cancer screening test that will 'save lives' is being stalled in Northern Ireland due to the collapse of Stormont.
Patients in England, Scotland and Wales are to benefit from the innovative kit which experts say will provide a more speedy and accurate diagnosis than current tests.
The Department of Health in the north, which is currently being run by senior civil servants, said "the necessary preparatory work" is being taken for its rollout but were unable to confirm when this will happen - due to the absence of a health minister.
Bowel cancer is second only to lung cancer as one of the biggest killers in Northern Ireland with around 410 deaths each year and 1,200 cases.
The new Faecal Immunochemical Test (FIT) works by detecting and measuring tiny amounts of blood in the stool, whereas the existing method only highlights the presence of blood.
Only one sample is required compared to the current three and a pilot discovered it picked up twice as many cancers.
Asha Kaur, policy and campaigns manager with the charity, Bowel Cancer UK, said the new test was much more accurate and also easier to complete.
Ms Kaur told the BBC that it was not being introduced in Northern Ireland where it could "potentially save more lives from bowel cancer".
Foyle assembly member Mark H Durkan, the SDLP's spokesperson on health, said the collapse of power-sharing was having a devastating impact on patient care.
"At a time when we should be implementing a transformation plan, the service has been starved of strategic and political direction. That paralysis is resulting in longer waiting times, poorer patient outcomes and will lead to people getting sicker," he said.
"Now some of our most vulnerable patients, those with suspected cancer, will have to wait for a new, more accurate, screening test. Early diagnosis and treatment is critical to beating bowel cancer. Delaying the implementation of advanced screening techniques will lead to people dying earlier, there are no two ways about it."
