Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase early diagnosis rates for prostate cancer.

The Government has committed to meeting the cancer waiting time standards in England by the end of this Parliament, by modernising the whole cancer pathway so that patients are diagnosed and treated more quickly.

The National Cancer Plan for England was published in February 2026. Patients across England will benefit from faster and more convenient tests, checks, and scans. By expanding diagnostic capacity, using real‑time data to spot delays, and rolling out technologies like robotic surgery, genomic testing, and faster, less invasive diagnostics, this will benefit all patients, including prostate cancer patients.

The plan is backed by significant funding committed by the Government at the Spending Review, including £200 million next year for local Cancer Alliances. Alliances are encouraged to allocate a proportion of this funding to the delivery of local early diagnosis plans, to drive progress on data-led priorities. This can include work to support the diagnosis of prostate cancer, but it will vary by alliance depending on local need. In 2025/26, several alliances have undertaken work to support awareness and earlier diagnosis of prostate cancer.

To increase knowledge of cancer symptoms, and address barriers to acting on them, the National Health Service in England has run Help Us Help You campaigns. These campaigns focused on recognising a range of symptoms, as well as encouraging body awareness, to help people spot symptoms across a wide range of cancers, including prostate cancer, at an earlier stage.

Through the Cancer Programme Innovation Open Call, the Department is piloting the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to assist radiologists using magnetic resonance imaging to detect clinically significant prostate cancer.

Cancer will be a priority for NHS Online, which goes live in England from 2027, bringing the best of the NHS to the rest of the NHS. Virtual cancer care will be a priority, beginning with virtual hospital pathways for men with raised prostate-specific antigen levels at risk of prostate cancer.

The Department continues to collaborate with Prostate Cancer UK on the TRANSFORM trial to answer the outstanding questions on screening effectiveness, particularly for black men and men with a family history of prostate cancer. 12,500 men are being recruited in phase 1 in sites across the UK, with inclusion into four groups looking at four different prostate health checks. Research phase 1 is expected to last between one to four years, and phase 2 is planned to be five to nine years. Currently, the Government, through the National Institute for Health and Care Research, has agreed to contribute support to phases 1 and 2. Further details can be sought from Prostate Cancer UK who are running the trial. The UK National Screening Committee will be reviewing the evidence that is published by this study, and this will help to inform any future recommendation on creating a national screening programme for prostate cancer.