Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve prostate cancer (a) screening and (b) awareness in Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard constituency.

Screening for prostate cancer is currently not recommended by the UK National Screening Committees (UK NSC). This is because of the inaccuracy of the current best test, the Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) test. A PSA-based screening programme will harm some men as many would be diagnosed with a cancer that would not have caused them problems during their life. This would lead to additional tests and treatments which can also have harmful side effects, for instance sexual dysfunction and incontinence.

The UK NSC regularly reviews its recommendations, and an evidence review for prostate cancer screening is underway, and plans to report within the UK NSC’s three-year work plan. NHS England is taking steps to raise awareness of prostate cancer, where there are opportunities to do so. For example, NHS England partners with Cancer Alliances, charities, and local representatives to reach people through projects in the heart of their communities. Cancer Alliances have also been undertaking action to alert at risk groups about prostate cancer, which is determined at a local level and so will vary depending on local needs and priorities.