Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of introducing a national prostate-specific antigen screening programme for prostate cancer in the UK.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
Screening for prostate cancer is currently not recommended by the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC). This is because of the inaccuracy of the current best test, called the Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA). A PSA-based screening programme could 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 example sexual dysfunction and incontinence.
The UK NSC regularly reviews its recommendations. The evidence review for prostate cancer screening is underway and will conclude at the end of 2025.
The Prostate Cancer Risk Management Programme (PCRMP) provides general practitioners (GPs) with information and guidance to counsel men who have no symptoms but wish to have a PSA test. It highlights the potential benefits and harms of PSA testing so that men, including those at higher risk, can make an informed decision about whether to have the test. Based on the current evidence, the PCRMP guidance is for GPs not to proactively offer a PSA to men without symptoms, due to high level of inaccuracy of the PSA test.