Prostate cancer screening
The Macmillan Cancer Support charity suggest 3.4 million people will be living with cancer in the UK by December 2025. This includes around 890,000 women with breast cancer, 610,000 men with prostate cancer, 390,000 people with bowel cancer and 120,000 with lung cancer.
Improving cancer outcomes is a key aim of the government’s first ever national men’s health strategy and a new national cancer plan, both due out by the end of the year.
Launching its public call for evidence on the strategy, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) noted that prostate cancer, a male-only disease, was now the most common cancer diagnosed in England. DHSC didn’t ask men for their views on screening in their call for evidence on men’s health strategy. This is why Healthwatch has carried out research to fill this gap. Our poll, of more than 3,500 men aged 18+ in England is believed to be the first to ask men if they would take part in any future programme.
If the NHS introduced prostate cancer routinely our findings showed:
- 79% of all men said they would be likely to attend an appointment when invited
- This rises to 81% for Black men – an important finding for health inequalities, given one in four Black men are at risk of prostate cancer.
- 89% of men aged 65-74 in our poll said they’d be likely to attend, compared to 65% of men aged 18-24.
- 67% of men who said they were financially ‘really struggling’ said they would attend if invited compared to 89% for men who were financially ‘very comfortable’.
Check your risk of getting prostate cancer
One in eight men will develop prostate cancer, usually after the age of 50. For Black men this risk doubles to one in four from 45 and over. Overall, the number of men dying from prostate cancer totals more than 10,000 men every year.
Prostate Cancer Screening – your questions answered
Prostate Cancer UK has answered some of the big questions around prostate cancer screening
Are you living with prostate cancer?
The Macmillan Cancer Prostate Cancer community is a online forum for anyone affected by prostate cancer. You can join this group and share your experiences and ask questions. Whether you or someone you know has been diagnosed, here you can discuss treatment options, side effects, prostatectomy and anything else that’s on your mind.
Movember
Movember is all about promoting conversations about men’s mental health, suicide prevention, prostate cancer and testicular cancer.
Every November, men in the UK grow a moustache as part of the campaign, which is supported by many charities and high profile personalities, with an aim to raise funds for the cause.
