Getty ImagesA charity providing free prostate cancer tests has called for more NHS screening to reduce the number of men who go undiagnosed.
The Torbay Prostate Support Association (TPSA) said men who had the cancer often showed no symptoms so it had offered Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) tests to men over 50.
It said the test was not 100% accurate in detecting cancer but the group argued some indication was better than nothing.
The Department of Health declined to comment on the call for wider testing, saying it was a matter for the UK National Screening Committee, which the BBC also contacted for comment. The NHS and Prostate Cancer UK recommend people speak to a GP to arrange a test.
The association recently held a session in Torquay where it provided 359 men with free antigen tests.
It said the tests sometimes returned false positives and negatives but it believed screening should be widely available.
Chairman Ian Nightingale said he was misdiagnosed with prostate cancer in 2013 but then diagnosed again in 2018 and had his prostate removed.
“We noticed that lots of people [were] concerned about PSA and prostate, but they couldn’t get to hospital, they couldn’t get stuff from the GPs,” he said.
“So we saw a need for guys who really are interested in owning their own health, so this was a gap in the market that we saw as a really important thing to do.”
Figures from Prostate Cancer UK showed 6,331 men in the wider South West region – which covers Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Dorset, Bristol, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire – were diagnosed with prostate cancer every year.
It said 1,280 men in the region died from prostate cancer every year.
Current NHS guidance says men should see their GP to arrange a test if they think they are at risk of prostate cancer.
The UK National Screening Committee is currently reconsidering its decision from five years ago not to recommend routine screening.
Chiara De Biase, director of health services, equity and improvement at Prostate Cancer UK, said PSA tests were “not quite accurate enough” to offer more widely.
She said the charity was funding a £42m trial to find the best way to screen men for prostate cancer.
“In just two years time the Transform Trial will give us the first bit of evidence that will feed straight back into the National Screening Committee,” she said.
She advised men over 50 should do the Prostate Cancer UK risk checker and consider the pros and cons of having a PSA test.
