The “Dame Deborah effect” has seen urgent cancer referrals increase by more than a quarter since before the pandemic, the NHS has said on the anniversary of her death.

Dame Deborah James, who was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2016, died on June 28 last year after receiving end-of-life care at home.

The 40-year-old mother of two was a vigorous campaigner for bowel cancer. Known as Bowel Babe, she launched the You, Me and The Big C podcast in 2018 alongside Lauren Mahon and Rachel Bland.

On the one-year anniversary of her death on Wednesday, Dame Deborah’s “inspiring” and “fearless” bowel cancer awareness work, which has led to tens of thousands more referrals, was praised by the NHS’s cancer director.

Urgent referrals for suspected lower gastro-intestinal cancers across 2022/23 were 127 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, the NHS has said, marking an increase of more than a quarter.

They were also 113 per cent of the levels seen in the previous period.

Between the months of May and July last year, referrals for these types of cancers reached record levels, with over 170,500 people referred for checks during that period.

This is up over 30,000 compared to the same period in 2021, and nearly 80,000 higher than the same period two years before.