Prostate cancer: Routine NHS screening is rejected by UK expert committee
07/12/2025
The UK National Screening Committee advised against routine screening for prostate cancer with the prostate specific antigen (PSA) blood test, arguing that the harms outweighed the benefits.
Mike Richards, chair of the UK screening committee, said, “We are committed to an evidence based approach. Whole population screening may lead to a small reduction in prostate cancer deaths, but very high levels of overdiagnosis mean the harms would outweigh the benefits.”
It also advised against screening black men or men with a relevant family history of prostate, breast, or ovarian cancer—despite a higher risk of prostate cancer in these groups—owing to uncertainties in the data. But its draft recommendations, out for public consultation until 20 February, do recommend a targeted programme to screen men with a confirmed BRCA gene variant.