PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
(28 August 2026)

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment her Department has made of the potential implications for its policies of the findings of the Cochrane review entitled Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test for prostate cancer screening by Franco et al, published on 15 May 2026.

Asked by:
Mr Toby Perkins (Labour)

Despite some recent misinformed media coverage, I can confirm to the Hon. Members that there has been no change to the policy in respect of prostate specific antigen (PSA) testing for men aged over 50 years old. Any such man who is concerned about prostate cancer, regardless of whether they have symptoms, remains free to make an appointment with their general practitioner, raise their concerns, and ask for a PSA test, exactly as they have done in the past. No impact assessment was therefore made when the guidance in this area was consolidated and updated in June, as there was no change in policy to assess.

The two main studies from the Cochrane review were included in the UK National Screening Committee modelling when they made their most recent recommendation regarding prostate cancer screening, and it should be noted that the Cochrane review came to the same statistical conclusions as the UK National Screening Committee regarding ‘mortality reduction", sometimes called lives saved, from PSA testing and subsequent treatment.

With regard to the next review of prostate cancer screening, I refer the Hon. Members to the article published by the UK National Screening Committee on 11 August 2026, which is available at the following link:

https://nationalscreening.blog.gov.uk/2026/08/11/the-uk-nscs-prostate-cancer-screening-model-will-remain-open-and-under-review/

Answered by:
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