Rishi Sunak is renewing calls for a ‘vital’ national prostate cancer screening programme as he prepares to attend a testing open day.
The former Conservative Prime Minister is urging men to get checks this week at one of six sessions nationwide.
Men can book a potentially life-saving test for the subsidised price of £12.50, which will check the health of their prostate and could spot early signs of a tumour.
National Screening Day is on Saturday, but Prostate Cancer Research and The Graham Fulford Charitable Trust has organised events for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday as well.
Catching prostate cancer early boosts survival chances, and treatment is typically easier, cheaper and more effective.
It is the most common cancer in the UK, with 63,000 cases and 12,000 deaths each year – but unlike breast, bowel and lung cancer, there is no national screening programme.
The Daily Mail is campaigning to end needless prostate cancer deaths and for a national prostate cancer screening programme, initially targeted at high-risk men, including those who are black, have a family history of the disease or particular genetic mutations.
Writing for the Daily Mail, Mr Sunak says: ‘We are at a pivotal moment for men’s health in this country. The Government has the chance to save countless lives by introducing a targeted screening programme.’
The former Conservative Prime Minister is urging men to get checks this week at one of six sessions nationwide
The Daily Mail is campaigning to end needless prostate cancer deaths and for a national prostate cancer screening programme, initially targeted at high-risk men
The UK National Screening Committee (UKNSC) issued draft guidance in November saying the checks should be offered only in very limited circumstances. For now, it has put forward a recommendation to only screen men with BRCA1 and BRCA2 genetic mutations – who face a significantly higher risk of aggressive prostate cancer – every two years between the ages of 45 and 61.
It would not recommend full screening using the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test because it may result in too many men undergoing unnecessary biopsies or surgery for slow-growing tumours that might never have caused them harm.
But a review by York Health Economics Consortium has since discovered that it relied on outdated data, diagnosis methods and treatments. Health Secretary Wes Streeting has the authority to overrule the UKNSC, which is due to publish its final recommendation later this month.
Mr Sunak will attend a screening event at Ilford Wanderers RFC in east London on Saturday, open to all local men aged 40 and over between 10am and 2pm.
Men can find testing events near them via the Prostate Cancer Research website.
Booking is essential and closes one day in advance. Results will be sent directly and confidentially to each participant.
David James, of Prostate Cancer Research, said: ‘Prostate cancer is now the most commonly diagnosed cancer in the UK – yet it is the only major cancer without a national screening programme. That is costing lives.
‘Too many men are diagnosed only once the disease has spread, when treatment becomes harder and survival chances plummet. National Screening Day is a vital reminder of the problem.’
