Over 120 MPs Warn Wes Streeting: “Frozen” Cancer Diagnosis System is Costing Men’s Lives

Photo credit: Agata Noweta

[London, UK] A cross-party coalition of over 120 MPs, led by former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak MP, Calvin Bailey MBE MP and Helen Morgan MP, has issued an urgent challenge to Health Secretary Wes Streeting, warning that the UK’s prostate cancer screening system is “frozen” – allowing preventable deaths whilst the wait for trial data goes on.  

The intervention comes as a recommendation from the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) on whether to endorse a screening programme is expected imminently. Campaigners warn that further delays would be a “devastating” failure for men’s health. 

A letter, coordinated by Prostate Cancer Research as part of their national campaign for screening reform, was hand-delivered to Mr Streeting on Monday evening (Nov 24th) by Rishi Sunak MP, Calvin Bailey MBE MP and Helen Morgan MP. 

The MPs argue that while decision-makers wait for “perfect” data, men are dying because of their ethnicity or where they live. The letter is deeply critical of the current “opportunistic” testing system as inefficient and unfair, noting that men in deprived areas are significantly more likely to be diagnosed with late-stage disease and die. 

The letter demands the government be ready to act for those at highest risk: 

• Black men  

• Men with a family history of prostate, breast, or ovarian cancer. 

• Carriers of BRCA1/BRCA2 genetic variants. 

The signatories present compelling evidence that the arguments against screening, historically based on cost and overdiagnosis, are outdated: 

• Lives saved: Screening reduces mortality by 13%, a figure comparable to existing breast and bowel cancer screening programmes. 

• Safety: Modern MRI techniques have reduced the harms of screening (such as unnecessary biopsies) by 79%. 

• Practicality: Modelling shows a targeted programme would cost the NHS just £25m annually – approximately 0.01% of the budget. 

• NHS savings: Treating late-stage cancer costs the NHS £127,000 per patient, compared to just £13,000 for early-stage treatment. 

Rishi Sunak MP, Prostate Cancer Research Ambassador, said: 

The evidence is now clear. Modern diagnosis is safer, more accurate, and has removed the harms that once justified inaction. With thousands of men still being diagnosed too late each year, when their cancer is no longer curable, we cannot continue with a system that relies on chance. A targeted screening programme for high-risk men is practical, affordable, and urgently needed. We must take this opportunity to save lives and make a generational difference to men’s health. 

Calvin Bailey MBE MP, Chair of the Prostate Cancer All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG), said: 

This is a defining moment. We are seeing deepening inequalities where men at increased risk are being turned away despite requesting tests, only to be diagnosed when it is too late. 

“Families are bearing the emotional and financial devastation of a disease we have the tools to catch. We are handing this letter to the Health Secretary calling for change. The evidence is there, the political support is there – we just need it recognised by the National Screening Committee.” 

Helen Morgan MP, Health and Social Care Spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats, said: 

“We already have successful screening programmes for breast and bowel cancer, yet catching the most common cancer in men is left to chance. This is a glaring gap in our prevention-first health strategy. 

“If we are serious about shifting the NHS from a sickness service to a prevention service, we simply cannot afford to ignore the evidence on prostate cancer any longer. We now have the tools to catch this devastating disease early, and it is time we used them.” 

Oliver Kemp MBE, CEO of Prostate Cancer Research, said: 

“It is time to stop hiding behind outdated arguments. We know that pre-biopsy MRIs have halved overdiagnosis rates and overtreatment rates have fallen massively in the last decade. 

“Other nations are moving ahead with risk-adapted testing. If the UK delays again, we are choosing to fall behind and fail another generation of men. Our campaign is calling on the public to join us in demanding a programme which we know to be practical, affordable, and morally essential.” 

Prostate Cancer Research is calling on the public to back the demand for a national screening programme via their campaign website: https://www.prostate-cancer-research.org.uk/screening/ 

ENDS 

• Media contact: Jess Farmery [email protected] 

• Prostate Cancer Research contact: David James [email protected] 

• A full copy of the signed letter and the list of signatories can be viewed here: https://www.prostate-cancer-research.org.uk/letter-on-need-for-targeted-screening. 

• Key statistics: 

• Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in UK men (63,000+ diagnoses/year) and is the cause of 12,000 deaths annually (1).

• Targeted screening would cost approx. £25m/year (0.01% of NHS budget) (2) 

• Late-stage treatment costs 10x more than early-stage treatment (£127k vs £13k) (3) 

• A Healthwatch England poll found that 79% of men would attend screening if invited (4) 

1 prostatecanceruk.org/for-health-professionals/data-and-evidence  

2 Prostate Cancer Research. Prostate Cancer Screening: Impact on the NHS; 2025 

3 Prostate Cancer Research. Socio-Economic Impact of Prostate Cancer Screening; 2024 

4 healthwatch.co.uk/blog/2025-10-08/men-would-come-forward-prostate-cancer-screening