Prostate Cancer Screening Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department of Health and Social Care
John Glen
Main Page: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)Department Debates - View all John Glen's debates with the Department of Health and Social Care
Prostate Cancer Screening
John Glen Excerpts(3 days, 15 hours ago)
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Dame Diana Johnson
I will carry on because I want to make these points.
The important point is that the evidence and clinical practice are evolving, and our approach must be able to evolve with them. That is why the Government are funding the prostate cancer screening model used by the UK National Screening Committee for a further three years. Work is already under way on family history, risk algorithms and biomarkers, including Stockholm3, and significant evidence from Transform can be considered as it emerges. The initial programme is therefore not the end of the process. Where robust new evidence supports screening additional high-risk groups, that evidence can be considered and screening recommendations revisited.
Dame Diana Johnson
I will carry on because I am conscious of time and I want to make these points.
I want to address directly the concern about the evidence underpinning the current screening recommendation. The committee considered the current NHS standard of care, which includes the use of MRI before biopsy. It did not include newer and innovative approaches for which the evidence is not yet sufficiently established. There are enormously encouraging advances taking place, including more targeted approaches, such as focal therapy. Better diagnosis and less harmful treatments could change the balance between the benefits and harms of screening, and as robust evidence develops, it will be considered.
I also want to deal with the point about GPs. I have heard the strength of feeling about PSA testing for men who are not eligible for the new screening programme. I want to reassure men that the policy has not changed. Any man who is concerned about prostate cancer, including a man without symptoms, can discuss PSA testing with his GP. Separate from the decision on national screening programmes, it is my view and the Secretary of State’s view that men who ask their GP or urologist about a PSA test should be able to make an informed choice, based on good-quality information, about the likelihood of being helped or being harmed. The Secretary of State worked on this issue as a Health Minister at the Department almost 25 years ago, and personally ensured that the guidance includes references to the importance of informed choice.