The NHS could offer targeted prostate cancer checks at a lower cost than breast screening at just £18 per patient, a major report reveals today.
A lifesaving prostate screening programme would require only five more MRI scanners and 75 extra staff, including four urologists, Prostate Cancer Research says.
This would help catch the disease earlier, when it is easier to treat – preventing thousands of deaths and offering men an additional 1,254 years of life annually, analysis shows.
The UK National Screening Committee, which advises the government on which screening programmes to offer, is currently considering recent developments around prostate cancer diagnosis and is due to report its findings later this year.
But leaks suggest the panel is currently minded to oppose a national prostate cancer screening programme despite the new report showing a targeted approach would cost £4 less per eligible patient than breast cancer screening, which is already offered to women.
Prostate Cancer Research is urging committee members to ‘fully consider’ its ‘significant’ new evidence before finalising their decision.
The charity says it would cost £25million a year to offer prostate cancer screening to 1.3million high risk men in the UK, meaning those aged 45 to 69 who are black or have a family history of the disease.
It estimates this would lead to one extra year of life saved for every £20,000 spent, which represents ‘strong evidence in favour of targeted screening’.
Oliver Kemp, chief executive of Prostate Cancer Research
Meanwhile, advances in prostate cancer testing indicate the cost could soon be reduced by a third to £17million, while becoming more accurate.
The report says a targeted prostate cancer screening programme is likely to increase demand for PSA blood tests, MRI scans and biopsies by 23 per cent and this would be ‘manageable’ with a small increase in NHS staff.
The NHS could rent five MRI scanners a year at a cost of around £1million each or use spare capacity in the private sector, which could provide fully-staffed mobile machines.
It is also possible to identify men who qualify for the checks as ethnicity and age are now routinely recorded on GP records and doctors can add notes about family history, the report adds.
Oliver Kemp, chief executive of Prostate Cancer Research, said: ‘We hope the UK National Screening Committee will take notice of the significant findings in this report.
‘It shows that a national screening programme for prostate cancer — targeting men at highest risk — is affordable, deliverable, and will save lives.
‘We cannot sit still while more than 12,000 fathers, husbands, and sons are lost every year.
‘How many more families must be devastated before we act? It’s high time we screen.’
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.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men, with around 63,000 diagnoses and 12,000 deaths each year in the UK.
Nine in ten men diagnosed with prostate cancer in its early stages are still alive ten years later but this falls to fewer than one in five if caught late, once it has spread around the body.
The Prostate Cancer Research report will be launched at a parliamentary event at the House of Commons on Tuesday, which is expected to be attended by former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who has spoken in support of prostate cancer screening.
Health secretary Wes Streeting has also declared his support for a national prostate cancer screening programme in a major boost for the Mail’s campaign.
The health secretary told MPs in April that he would like to see the NHS proactively offer men tests for the disease in a move that could prevent thousands of needless deaths.
He said he is ‘particularly sympathetic’ to the argument that this should initially be targeted at high-risk men.
The call for targeted screening has also been backed by former home secretary Sir James Cleverly and Calvin Bailey, a Labour MP and the chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on prostate cancer.
The NHS already offers national screening programmes for breast, bowel and cervical cancers.
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