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 help improve the (a) early detection and (b) treatment of prostate cancer; and if he will make a statement.

In February and March 2022, NHS England and NHS Improvement and Prostate Cancer UK delivered an awareness campaign on prostate cancer risks. This encouraged men to use Prostate Cancer UK’s clinically approved risk checker to understand their level of risk and make an informed choice on whether to have further tests.

NHS England and NHS Improvement are implementing a best practice timed pathway for prostate cancer, including the use of multi-parametric magnetic resonance imaging prior to biopsy for a faster diagnosis. NHS England and NHS Improvement have introduced a new financial incentive for 2022/23 through the Commissioning for Quality and Innovation scheme to support the delivery of the pathway.

In 2018, we allocated £75 million for clinical trials for prostate cancer focusing on improving early diagnosis and survival rates and exploring options for different treatments. Through the Early Access to Medicines Scheme, patients can now access lutetium vipivotide tetraxetan in the treatment of prostate-specific membrane antigen positive metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.