Prostate Cancer: Screening
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of targeted prostate cancer screening on earlier diagnosis rates.
Answered by Mrs Sharon Hodgson
The targeted prostate cancer screening programme announced on 2 June 2026 and rolling out in 2027 will screen men between 45 and 61 years old who have a BRCA2 gene variant and a family history of prostate, breast, pancreatic or ovarian cancer. The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) has assessed that a targeted screening programme for men who meet these criteria is justified on the basis that prostate cancer occurs more often at a younger age and more aggressively for men in this group than for other men. This means that, for this group, the benefits of early detection and treatment would outweigh the harms associated with overdiagnosis and treatment side effects.
It is estimated that approximately 1,500 men in England will be eligible for the targeted prostate cancer screening programme. Based on similar programmes for people with genetic risk factors, uptake is expected to be high.
This is a new programme which will potentially increase early diagnosis rates and survival in the eligible population, who, particularly at younger ages, have an increased risk of prostate cancer, with studies suggesting risks approximately five to seven times higher than average.
The introduction of this new screening programme is not expected to have an impact on the diagnosis or survival rates of men who are not eligible for the screening programme. The Government has published an equality impact assessment which sets out the potential impact on health inequalities and any mitigations. This is available at the following link:
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