Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what her steps her Department is taking to improve early diagnosis rates for prostate cancer prior to the TRANSFORM trial findings.

Improving early diagnosis of cancer, including prostate cancer, remains a priority for the Government and we are working towards the NHS Long Term Plan ambition of diagnosing 75% of stageable cancers at stage 1 and 2 by 2028. We know more people are surviving cancer in the United Kingdom than ever and that is partly down to early diagnosis.

Prior to the TRANSFORM trial, we are helping more people get diagnosed earlier by raising awareness, implementing the faster diagnosis standard and funding investment in research and diagnostics. NHS England takes steps to raise awareness of prostate cancer where there are opportunities to do so; for example NHS England partners with cancer alliances, charities and local representatives to reach people through projects in the heart of their communities. Cancer alliances have also been undertaking action to alert ‘at risk’ groups about prostate cancer, this is determined at a local level and so will vary depending on local needs and priorities.

To support faster diagnosis, NHS England is streamlining cancer pathways and in October 2022 introduced the best practice timed pathway for prostate cancer. This guidance recommends those with suspected prostate cancer undertake a multi-parametric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) before biopsy, which ensures only those men most at risk of having cancer undergo an invasive biopsy.

In 2018, the Government announced £75 million of funding for clinical trials for prostate cancer, focusing on early diagnosis, survival rates and treatment options. Since April 2018, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) has awarded over £60 million to more than 28 research studies relevant to prostate cancer. These include randomised controlled trials of different treatments, a randomised controlled trial of different methods of biopsy and a survivors’ rehabilitation evaluation.

Alongside cutting-edge research, we are helping more people get diagnosed earlier for cancer and other conditions by rolling out additional tests, checks and scans at 160 locations across England through our Community Diagnostics Centres programme.