Prostate Cancer

Mar 11, 2022 Last reply: 4 years ago 84 Replies

In theory that's possible, and if it works for you, fantastic. The NHS says you have a right to a PSA test via your GP if you're age 50 or more.

However, we know that tens of thousands (maybe close to 100,000 by now) men who would usually have been checked by GP's and found necessary to refer to urology for further checks have not been since the start of COVID. This has lead to over 14,000 men with prostate cancer who would normally have been diagnosed and treated by now but have not been, and are unaware they are walking around with undiagnosed prostate cancer which over time becomes less likely to be cured.

One of the biggest barriers to detecting these men is inaccessibility of GP face-to-face appointments, which is where prostate cancer tends to come up in discussion. There are also still too many GPs who are a decade or more out of date with the diagnostic pathway and try to dissuade their patients from PSA tests on the basis of no symptoms, which we now know to be very wrong. Some GPs even fail to refer patients when PSA is in the range where they should have done so. The referral rate for prostate cancer is still well behind pre-pandemic levels and is the worse of all cancer types in this respect, so the number going undiagnosed is getting worse. This is in contrast to breast cancer where referrals are running well over pre-pandemic levels, which means the pandemic backlog is being cleared.

So the situation with GPs is far from ideal, and you really mustn't let that put you off being tested if you are at risk (e.g. aged 50 or more)

- you could be one of the 14,000 missing men. So knowing there's another route to get a PSA test is valuable. There are also free charity tests in some areas, and in some other areas, the tests by post are subsidised by local charities - the same site lists many of those too.

Andrew

As far as I'm concerned, a home test kit would avoid the following:

*Liaising with my GP to authorise a blood test at one of the local hospitals. *Booking a scheduled test appointment (I've taken to doing this online), the first available test typically being in nearly in two weeks time. *A 4 mile drive to the hospital. *Hopefully a rapid in-and-out test in less than 5 minutes (they recently ceased their walk-in system, and they seem to be very prompt), however.... *If my stay is more than 30 minutes, a parking charge of £3.50. *A 4 mile drive back home. *Waiting for a couple of days before either checking with my GP's secretary to get the result (or, more recently, for the result to appear in my online-accessible medical records).

All things considered, I reckon that a home test does seem rather advantageous.

Fair enough - as long as the result is clear and does not need professional interpretation.

That's my own experience.

I had a blood test (luckily, *very* locally) a couple of weeks ago and got the interpreted results over the phone earlier this week.

I *could* have insisted on a test earlier than that (the last one was probably circa November 2019), but genuinely didn't want to:

(a) trouble the NHS during a crisis or

(b) take the risk of mingling with sick people!

Agreed.

But you don't really need FtF for a blood test and analysis.

Good point. The £25 wouldn't put me off either.

A recent episode of the BBC programme "Your Body Uncovered" dealt with BPH. The programme uses MRI and virtual reality to show patients their conditions.

For people with access to BBC iPlayer the programme should be available until at least March 2023.

formatting link

Join the Discussion

Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.

Didn't find your answer?

Ask the community — no account required