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The health secretary has ordered a review of NHS guidance on testing for prostate cancer following “powerful” calls from Sir Chris Hoy, who said easrlier screenings could save “potentially millions of lives”.
The six-time Olympic cycling champion revealed last month that his cancer is terminal after he first made public in February that he was undergoing treatment, including chemotherapy.
He is urging men with a family history of the disease to consider seeing their GP, and for more men to be aware of the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test to check for the disease.
Both Sir Chris’s grandfather and father had prostate cancer, which can run in families.
“If you’ve got family history of it, like I have, if you’re over the age of 45, go and ask your doctor,” Sir Chris told BBC Breakfast.
“I’ve got a friend who, when I told him my news early on confidentially, he went and got a PSA test and it turned out he had cancer. He’s had treatment and he’s been given the all-clear.”
He said men should be able to get a screening test when they are younger, with no barriers to accessing one.
“Catch it before you need to have any major treatment. To me it seems a no-brainer. Reduce the age, allow more men to just go in and get a blood test.
Asked about Sir Chris’s call to lower the screening age on BBC Radio 4’sToday programme, health secretary Wes Streeting said: “I think he makes a very compelling case.
“I’ve asked the NHS to look at whether we are currently in the right place when it comes to screening so that’s something that we’re actively looking at.
“And actually one of many reasons why Chris Hoy’s openness about his own experience with cancer, his family’s experience with cancer, I think has been so impactful because moments like this, especially where you’ve got a high-profile case and someone who’s willing to talk as openly as he is about his situation, I think it prompts a good debate about whether or not we’ve got the screening and the early diagnosis in the right place.
“And also I think there’ll be lots of people who are living with cancer who will take a great deal of comfort in how he’s approaching his own cancer journey as well and certainly I found it extremely moving, and I’m sure I’m not the only one.”
NHS guidelines for England say anyone can request a PSA test if they are over the age of 50.
The charity Prostate Cancer UK also advises that black people or those with a family history of prostate cancer may want to speak to their GP about having a PSA test from the age of 45.
GPs are currently told to use their clinical judgment for men aged under 50 without symptoms who they consider to be at increased risk of prostate cancer.
The 48-year-old Scot also revealed he is planning a charity bike ride in 2025 for people with stage four cancers to show “many people can still have very full and happy lives, and healthy lives, dealing with it”.
“I’m not saying everybody’s in the same boat but there’s hope out there,” he said.
“Look at me now, six months on from finishing chemo and I’m riding my bike every day, I’m in the gym, I’m physically active, I’m not in pain. When people talk about battles with cancer, for me the biggest battle is between your ears.
“It’s the mental struggle, it’s the challenge to try and deal with these thoughts, deal with the implications of the news you’re given.
“When you hear terminal illness, terminal cancer, you just have this image in your head of what it is, what it’s going to be like.
“And everybody’s different, and not everybody is given the time that I’ve been given – and that’s why I feel lucky. We genuinely feel lucky, as crazy as that might sound, because we’ve got the time.”
