by Wes Streeting has said he is ready to “fight the arguments” in the fight for prostate cancer screening.
The health minister said he was keen to introduce some form of testing for men but any decision would have to be “evidence-based”.
Later this week he will receive recommendations from the UK National Screening Committee on whether to support screening.
The final decision rests with Mr Streeting, who has been urged to show “leadership” and introduce a targeted review, even if the committee is cautious.
The Telegraph is calling for targeted screening to be introduced so that tests are offered to the most vulnerable men, such as black men and those with a family history of prostate cancer or certain genes linked to it.
On Tuesday, Mr Streeting praised Lord Cameron, the former prime minister, for disclosing his prostate cancer diagnosis earlier this week.
He said Lord Cameron had done “a great public service” which had encouraged men to come forward and led to more diagnoses.
In the House of Commons he said: “As far as screening and the arguments that are being put forward for targeted screening are concerned, I await the recommendations of the National Screening Committee and we will consider these carefully.”
“We know this is controversial within the industry, so it is important we have an evidence-based discussion, set out the case and find the right path forward.”
Mr Streeting said he expected a draft recommendation from the committee, which would be followed by a three-month consultation.
He said: “I want to act quickly based on the evidence and the recommendations it contains, not least because we know that not only is cancer a common form of cancer, but some groups, particularly black men, men with a family history of prostate cancer and men with BRCA gene mutations, are at higher risk, with black men twice as likely to die from prostate cancer as white men.”
“So there is a need to act. Whatever the recommendation, we must significantly improve the diagnosis and treatment of this terrible disease.”
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men in the UK, with 63,000 diagnoses and 12,000 deaths each year. However, it is the only serious type of cancer for which there is no early detection program.
Previously, Britain’s screening committee rejected calls to introduce controls because of concerns that prostate-specific antigen (PSA) tests used to assess cancer risk were not reliable enough.
But in recent years there have been major advances in the supportive diagnostics used to confirm a diagnosis, including MRI scans.
Rishi Sunak (left), the former prime minister, presented an open letter to Health Secretary Wes Streeting calling for a screening program
Rishi Sunak, the former prime minister, leads a cross-party coalition of 125 MPs and says “the government must be ready to act” so that the most vulnerable men are “no longer left behind”.
Mr Sunak met Mr Streeting on Monday evening to forward an open letter from MPs urging him to introduce such testing, saying it would be a “legacy-defining step forward for men’s health”.
The letter says there is “compelling” evidence to support testing in high-risk groups and warns against accepting “outdated” arguments that do not take enough account of advances in diagnostics that reduce the risk of unnecessary harm.
The screening committee, chaired by Prof Sir Mike Richards, will meet on Thursday to prepare its draft recommendations.
