Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure accurate NHS public messaging on prostate cancer awareness is circulated in Surrey Heath constituency.

The Department is committed to getting the National Health Service diagnosing prostate cancer earlier and treating it faster, so that more patients survive.

NHS England partners with Cancer Alliances, charities, and local representatives to reach people through projects in the heart of their communities, to help raise awareness of prostate cancer, including in Surrey Heath. Cancer Alliances have also been undertaking action to alert at risk groups about prostate cancer, and this is determined at a local level and therefore will vary depending on local needs and priorities.

In January 2025, NHS England re-launched its ‘abdominal and urological symptoms of cancer’ phase of the Help Us Help You campaigns to increase knowledge of cancer symptoms and address barriers to acting on them, to encourage people to come forward as soon as possible to see their general practitioner. The campaigns focus on a range of symptoms, including symptoms of prostate cancer.

In the Surrey Heath constituency, the Department holds information for two trusts. In 2024, the Royal Surrey County Hospital NHS Trust recorded that a total of 2,337 prostate cancer patients commenced a first or subsequent treatment, 583 of which were a first treatment. In 2024, the Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust recorded that a total of 614 prostate cancer patients commenced a first or subsequent treatment, 549 of which were a first treatment.