Health Secretary Wes Streeting has suggested that he would support a national prostate cancer screening programme for men at higher risk of disease if it is backed by the evidence.
The UK’s National Screening Committee is currently assessing whether or not a national screening programme should be rolled out.
The prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test is a blood test which is used to check for prostate conditions including prostate cancer or an enlarged prostate.
Routine PSA testing is not currently offered on the NHS, but patients may be offered a PSA test if a GP suspects they have prostate cancer.
And men over the age of 50 can ask their GP for a PSA test, even if they do not have symptoms.
There have been an increasing number of calls for the test to be rolled out across the health service.
But others have argued that widespread use of the test could identify cases which may not have caused problems or needed treatment.
Asked whether he would like to see a national prostate cancer screening programme for men at high risk of the disease, Mr Streeting told the House of Commons’ Health and Social Care Committee: “I would like to see that.
“But, and this is such an important but, decisions in this area do need to be evidence-based and evidence-led, and that’s why we have a National Screening Committee.
“So I’ve asked the National Screening Committee to look at this, and they are.
“I think there is an even more compelling case around groups that are at higher risk of prostate cancer.
“But ultimately – and I think this is where as politicians we have such a responsibility to kind of sometimes resist the temptation to sign every petition or to sign up to every campaign.
“We’ve got to make sure that decisions we make are evidence-led and evidence-based.
“So sure, I would like to see, you know, screening in this place.”
But he added: “I can go on BBC Breakfast as a politician, as a health secretary, and say, ‘Great news. I’m backing Chris Hoy, his campaign. I’m doing what everyone wants’. And people will kind of say, ‘Great, oh, really good to see the Government doing this’.
“But I’m only going to do that if the evidence base suggests that is the best use of a valuable resource and certainly constrained resources, which I know is not always the most popular answer, but I think it’s the right answer.
“I think all of us as politicians kind of need to show that restraint and discipline sometimes of not just signing up to the latest campaign, unless the evidence tells us this is the right thing to do.”
Earlier on Tuesday he told LBC Radio: “This is a really important campaign on a couple of fronts: firstly, awareness is really important… making sure that people do go and get checked is important if there are any worrying signs or symptoms that people go and get checked and don’t feel awkward about talking about it.
“There shouldn’t be a taboo around this, any more than there should be a taboo around issues like breast cancer or anything else, frankly.
“And secondly, there is a big campaign running at the moment for better cancer screening, and the National Screening Committee is looking very carefully at this moment.
“As soon as I’ve got anything to report back on that front, I’ll be back.”
Prostate Cancer UK has called for guidelines to be changed so GPs can have “proactive” discussions about getting tested with men at highest risk of disease.
Amy Rylance, assistant director of health improvement at the charity, said: “It’s great to hear Wes Streeting express his support for a prostate cancer screening programme, and acknowledging that some men have a higher risk of getting the disease than others.
“We are a data and evidence-based charity. We know that diagnosing prostate cancer is safer and more accurate than ever before, and that targeted screening of the most at-risk men will save thousands of men’s lives a year. We submitted our evidence backing this up to the National Screening Committee over two years ago – it’s about time we got a decision.
“While we wait for the National Screening Committee’s decision, the Government can do something right now to help men. Prostate Cancer UK is calling on the Government to change outdated NHS guidelines so that GPs can start having proactive conversations with men at the highest risk of getting prostate cancer, telling them about their risk and the option to get tested.”
