MP presses Health Minister to introduce screening programme for prostate cancer
In Parliament yesterday, Cumbrian MP Tim Farron challenged ministers in the Department of Health and Social Care to introduce a targeted screening programme to detect prostate cancer.
There are around 52,000 cases of prostate cancer diagnosed across the UK every year – the equivalent of 142 every day – making it the most common cancer among men.
The disease usually has no symptoms until the cancer has grown large and more difficult to treat.
Early diagnosis is key to survival, with just a third of men living for five years or more once the cancer has spread outside the prostate.
Speaking during Health Questions in Parliament, Tim said: “Does the Minister agree, however, that the information she has just given about why screening for prostate cancer does not happen for men is based on a study that is 20 years old?
“There are 12,000 deaths a year - it is the biggest killer among men, and the second biggest killer among all people - yet here is this evil cancer for which there is no screening programme whatsoever. Will she take steps to update current NHS guidance to ensure that all those at high risk of prostate cancer receive a targeted early detection service?
“I think she has hinted that she may be doing that, but will she finally introduce mass screening for prostate cancer? It is the only cancer without specifically commissioned early diagnosis work, and men are dying unnecessarily because of the failure to bring this in.”
In response, the Health Minister Maria Caufield said: “We have more than hinted: we have just announced a £16 million pilot study of prostate cancer screening. We have a plan to tackle those 12,000 deaths a year, and it will work, because until now we have not had a diagnostic test. PSA is not a sensitive test in all prostate cancers: there are many men with prostate cancer who do not express PSA.
“That is why the Transform study, using detection tools such as MRI, will be trialled, and if they are effective, such tools will be rolled out across the country.”