Introduce a screening programme for prostate cancer, starting with high-risk men
We are calling on the Government to reassess the UK National Screening Committee’s (UK NSC) draft recommendation not to offer prostate cancer screening to anyone except men with BRCA1/2 genetic variants, and to introduce screening for all high-risk men.
Signatures
68,560
signatures
Government response threshold (10,000) · 10,000/10,000 · reached
Debate threshold (100,000) · 68,560/100,000
- 26 FEB 2026Government respondedDepartment of Health and Social CareGovernment reply
The UK National Screening Committee consulted on a draft prostate cancer screening recommendation and will make a final recommendation soon. The Government will then consider whether to accept it.
Read full response - 06 FEB 202610,000 signatures reachedEligible for a government response
- 13 JAN 2026Petition opened for signaturesCreated by David James
Background
Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men yet has no screening programme.
We disagree with the UK NSC’s analysis of the evidence and the weight it has placed on avoiding unintended harms. We believe the Committee has fixated on potential harms that have already dramatically reduced, while under-weighting the very real benefits of early detection. The analysis has not kept pace with modern practice or acknowledged how this would be an improvement on the current inefficient and inequitable system.
Targeted screening for all high-risk men should be the starting point for building a screening programme that can ultimately protect all men. Early diagnosis saves lives.