Over 12,000 men die from prostate cancer every year. It is the most common kind of cancer found in men and accounts for 14% of all cancer cases in the UK. Yet it is the only major cancer that does not have its own national screening program. This is simply not good enough; in the face of such an awful condition, men deserve better than this.
There is hope however, that better is on the way. British actor and current president of RADA, David Harewood, and Academy Award-winning British director Sir Steve McQueen, are both working in partnership with Prostate Cancer Research on a new campaign to lobby for the creation of a national screening program. This program if implemented, would represent a huge leap forward in diagnostics and saving more lives.
The highly acclaimed actor and director teamed up to make a short film called Scanner to promote this campaign. They recorded the film in the Paul Strickland Scanner Centre at Mount Vernon Hospital in Northwood, sharing all the details and the all-important statistics of why this matters so much and why it will make the world of difference for every man in the UK.
The screening programme would make extensive use of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, or MRI, which is used in hospitals and other medical centres all over the world. The MRI revolution manifested itself in the 1970s thanks to contributions from scientists such as Raymond Damadian, Paul Lauterbur, and Sir Peter Mansfield. Yet, now more than 50 years later and with several advancements in MRI along the way, we still do not have a screening program for prostate cancer. Why is that?
Well, it is because until now outdated methods have been employed for diagnosing the condition, methods that are unreliable and unfortunately have led to men undergoing potentially harmful and needless tests and treatments.
Whilst we still lack the program that will push things forward, there are now more suitable and less invasive preventative measures such as the PSA blood test that can check for early warning signs. There are also questionnaires online that allow you to self-assess your risk in thirty seconds. However, the PSA is not a completely reliable test as most early signs are missed in men with prostate cancer and are usually found too late. This is because that, in early-stage prostate cancer, men are often asymptomatic. Which makes fighting for this screening program matter all the more.
It is not just medical barriers that either emphasise the need for or stand in the way of a national screening programme. There remains a social stigma attached to prostate exams, either traditionally administered or with a DRE (Digital Rectal Exam). Not to mention the discomfort and embarrassment that men all too often feel when undergoing the examination, as well as being a perceived threat to their masculinity thanks to the highly invasive and vulnerable nature of these exams.
Pop culture has perpetuated the stereotype of rectal exams, with scenes from many films and television shows, making light of what is a gravely serious medical procedure. This includes an episode of Family Guy where Peter Griffin equates a prostate exam with assault, and the 1985 Chevy Chase-starring comedy Fletch where Chase asks his doctor mid-procedure “You ever serve time?” It has been done enough times across media that prostate exams are arguably treated as though they belong in the canon of comedy tropes.
Prostate exams are not and should never be a punchline. This only leads to mass mockery, ignorance and ultimately, men dying prematurely from a condition that can be treated if caught early enough. They are a staple of men’s healthcare and are long overdue for an upgrade. Without a screening programme, men will continue to go on to receive a diagnosis only once it is already too late because the cancer has spread and thus become incurable.
In May of last year, Prostate Cancer UK launched the biggest prostate cancer screening trial in 20 years known as the TRANSFORM trial at the cost of £42 million. Supported by the NHS, the NIHR (National Institute for Health and Care Research), and the UK Government, the trial involves hundreds of thousands of men, its mission being to find the best way to screen men for the major cancer. This trial should provide more than sufficient evidence to prove that a national screening program is the best way forward to reduce harm and invasiveness and increase safety and accuracy thousandfold.
In 2025, it remains to be seen if the government follow through with their commitment to hold a public consultation on the UK National Screening Committee’s decision before the end of the year. What this means is that everyone will have the opportunity to join in the fight to establish a national screening program, which will give all men a much-needed upgrade in protection from this deadly condition. Such a revolution in cancer diagnosis and treatment will be in the best interest of all men everywhere across the UK.
Words by Alfie Fletcher
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