Men are set to lose the right to prostate cancer tests in what has been branded as a “major betrayal”.
Men over 50 will no longer be entitled to a blood test that is key to catching the cancer early.
Until now, any man over 50 has been entitled to a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test via their GP, without requiring symptoms to be present.
However, new guidance will remove that right, instead moving to a model that leaves family doctors to decide whether testing is required.
Lord Cameron, the former Prime Minister, who has undergone treatment for prostate cancer after taking a test, has said it was a “backward step”.
Lord Cameron told The Telegraph: “This is yet another step backwards and once again shows why we need simple, proper targeted screening for all at-risk men.
“Screening is essential to catch cancers early, when they can be more effectively and successfully treated. Only due to testing, my cancer was caught and treated in time.
“I urge the new Prime Minister and Health Secretary to be brave and bold. Stop the complexity and confusion and introduce a more progressive and life-saving policy: a proper, targeted screening programme that involves all those at higher risk.
“Without it, more men will die, and more families will lose a loved one. Heed the warnings, this is avoidable and can be done.”
The decision was taken by the Department of Health and Social Care and was taken without public consultation; it now leaves the decision for GPs to decide.
A DHSC letter sent to health organisations on Thursday says that “the prostate cancer risk management programme guidance has been withdrawn”.
The original guidance said the test was “available free to any man aged 50 or above who requests it”.
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It now states: “If a patient is worried about prostate cancer, then they can ask their GP about having a PSA test.
“As the health professional, the GP will consider the patient’s cancer risk to help with reaching a judgment on whether undertaking a PSA test is the right option for the patient, whilst clearly laying out to the patient the pros and cons associated with doing so.”
David James, director of patient projects and influencing at charity Prostate Cancer Research, said: “This is a shocking betrayal and backward step that will condemn thousands more men each year to a late and incurable diagnosis.”
He said: “The Government rejected wider prostate cancer screening using a UK National Screening Committee model that assumed opportunistic PSA testing would continue, despite experts warning that this distorted the comparison and inflated the harms of screening.
“Now, having used that model to argue screening would cause too much harm, it is dismantling the very testing system the model assumed would stay in place.
“That isn’t just inconsistent, it is a sleight of hand. Men are being left with the worst of both worlds: no widespread national screening programme, while facing greater barriers to getting a PSA test that could lead to their cancer being caught while it can still be cured.
“Undoubtedly this will save the NHS money and MRI capacity in the short term, but it is a false economy.
“Any savings made today will ultimately be paid for twice: by an NHS treating far more expensive advanced disease, and by men being told their cancer was found too late to cure.”
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer within men in the UK. Around 63,000 people are diagnosed each year, with 12,000 deaths.
A spokesman for the DHSC said the policy had not changed, the previous guidance had been “retired” due to its ambiguity.
He said: “Every man still has the right to ask their GP for a PSA test, and it remains the case that the final decision rests with GPs.
“All this letter does is tell GPs and others where to find the most up-to-date guidance.”
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