Record number of men diagnosed with prostate cancer after being encouraged to get checks
A record number of men in England are being diagnosed with prostate cancer after being encouraged to come forward for checks, new figures show.
There were 58,137 new cases found in 2023, making it the most common type of cancer, according to the latest NHS Cancer Registration Statistics published today.
This is 6 per cent more than the previous year and a growth rate almost three-times larger than the 2.4 per cent rise recorded for all cancers.
Half (50 per cent) of prostate cancers were found ‘early’ at stages one or two, before they had spread, which is an improvement of two percentage points year-on-year.
The country’s most senior cancer doctor said the rise in cases has likely been fuelled by growing awareness of the disease and more men willing to speak openly about it.
Olympic cyclist Sir Chris Hoy, comedian Sir Stephen Fry and former BBC Breakfast presenter Bill Turnbull are among celebrities to have revealed their own battles with the disease.
It comes as the Daily Mail is campaigning to end needless prostate cancer deaths and for a national prostate cancer screening programme, initially for high risk men.
The UK National Screening Committee, which advises the government on which screening programmes to offer, is currently considering recent developments around prostate cancer diagnosis and is due to report its findings later this year.
The Daily Mail is campaigning to end needless prostate deaths
Professor Peter Johnson, NHS national clinical director for cancer, said: ‘The NHS is diagnosing more cases of prostate cancer than ever before and it is encouraging that more men are coming forward to get checked and being diagnosed at an earlier stage – helped by growing awareness and men speaking more openly about the disease.
‘Across the NHS, we are continuously improving how prostate cancer is detected and treated — using MRI scans to guide who may need a biopsy and testing AI to make diagnosis faster and more accurate, helping men start treatment sooner and with fewer side effects.’
Overall, there were a record 354,820 new cancer diagnoses in 2023, up 8,605 year-on-year and equivalent to 972 a day.
A study this week found screening men for prostate cancer could save thousands of lives in the UK by slashing their risk of dying from the disease by 13 per cent.
