Independent readers shared their experiences and frustrations of prostate cancer screening following David Cameron’s diagnosis.
The former prime minister revealed he was diagnosed with the disease after a scan prompted by his wife, Samantha, and is now calling for targeted screening.
Many noted that prostate cancer is common but often overlooked, stressing that early detection can be life-saving and that PSA checks can catch the disease before it becomes untreatable.
Readers praised Cameron for using his platform to raise awareness, highlighting how difficult it can be to get a PSA test on the NHS.
Several described the mixed messages around testing, with doctors warning of false positives or unnecessary biopsies, yet acknowledging PSA as the best tool currently available.
Others shared personal experiences with symptoms such as frequent urination, underlining that even minor signs should prompt a test.
Overall, our community agreed that routine, accessible screening could prevent late diagnoses and save lives.
Here’s what you had to say:
Forgotten men
I was diagnosed 15 years ago and treated successfully in France. I am amazed to hear my friends in the UK complaining that their GPs are very reluctant to give them a prescription for a PSA test. Often the excuse is “can be misleading”, “often false positive and a lot of subsequent worry and maybe biopsy”, which is expensive… I enquired at my local lab here about getting a PSA test done privately without a prescription and was told 16 euros!
The only time prostate cancer gets any attention in the UK is when a celebrity or well-known person is affected and decides to go public; many don’t.
Compared to the lengthy list of female tests available, men are to a great extent forgotten by the UK system.
A biopsy considered more worrying than cancer
I was diagnosed in the UK 16 years ago, and had the same problem getting a test [as Chris]. The reasons given were the same. It was the standard mantra, and still is. Why a biopsy is considered more worrying than fear of dying of cancer, I can’t imagine.
The irony, when I met the surgeon, was that he immediately told me that younger and younger men were presenting with the disease. And that was 16 years ago.
Regular screening could have saved my life
I’m sorry to hear about Cameron’s diagnosis, and hope he has the treatment that will see him through. I disagree, though, with what he says: “Following his diagnosis, he said he wanted to support a call by the charity Prostate Cancer Research for screening to be offered to men deemed at high risk.”
Nobody would have thought that I was high risk; however, at the very first, very minor symptom, I was tested and it was already too late: the cancer had metastasised and was therefore incurable. Regular screening could have saved my life.
My prostate cancer had already metastasised when I had the first, very mild, symptom. So I am date-stamped, like Sir Chris Hoy. I found the situation, once I got used to it, strangely liberating. I am able to do most of what I want to do (I carve stone and paint in oils) and find that things I used to worry about seem much less important. My mantra: test early, test often.
I had to lie to get a test
While I am sorry to hear [David Cameron] has had [prostate cancer], he is lucky to have been diagnosed and survived the scare. Me? I had to lie to my doctor just to get the test, after five years of asking. This test should be as routine as breast cancer screening for ladies, and done on request not fear.
Get checked after 50
I am in the same boat as [Cameron] is. My prostate cancer is advanced. I hope for him that his is not. I have an appointment at the NHS to be told the result of my PET scan and to know my fate. I hope that it is not as bad as Sir Chris Hoy.
My advice to you all is to be regularly checked after 50, as if diagnosed early, it can be cured; if diagnosed late, it cannot. Regardless of one’s political inclination, we must all thank Mr Cameron (and of course Mr Hoy) for having come public and campaigning for the NHS to target screening.
Just as important as breast cancer screening
I had a PSA test in Poland as a routine measure with a blood test for something else. I didn’t know what a PSA test was for until the results came out and the doctor told me. After that I had further tests which confirmed it was prostate cancer and I needed an operation.
Later, a friend in Britain was feeling unwell and, having heard about what happened to me, asked for a PSA test next time he was having a blood test. The nurse told him it wasn’t necessary. He managed to convince his doctor to let him have a PSA test and by that time the cancer had spread. He needed a lot of treatment.
Prostate cancer screening is just as important for men as breast cancer screening is for women. It can save lives and prevent more expense to the NHS.
Every male should be checked
What I cannot understand is that the PSA is a simple blood test that anyone can have at any time. It’s certainly not a definitive test either; there can be severely wrong readings, but any male that is going to the toilet at night more than two or three times should get a check, no matter what the age. If you are experiencing having to go to the toilet during the day quite often and cannot hold it up – a real “having to go immediately” feeling – then get a test, and if necessary there is a very simple test with what your bladder holds, the force with which you release the fluid, and they can do an endoscopy to see if there are irregularities on the prostate… much better than the finger job.
Just as an addendum, I have had all these experiences firsthand. Fortunately my enlargement was benign.
Some of the comments have been edited for this article for brevity and clarity.
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