National Screening Committee FAQs for Health Professionals

What is the UK National Screening Committee?

The UK National Screening Committee is an independent committee that advises ministers and the NHS on all aspects of health screening, including whether to start, stop or change screening programmes.

It also supports the four UK governments with the implementation of new screening programmes, monitoring the balance of benefits and harms as well as their overall cost-effectiveness.

The committee works with partners to follow scientific developments in screening, including screening research, screening policies in other countries and emerging technologies. It aims to ensure all screening recommendations are embedded in a robust ethical framework and will help to reduce health inequalities.

How long will it take to set up a screening programme?

We can’t say for certain – but we can look at similar recent examples to estimate how long it might take to set up a screening programme.

When the UK National Screening Committee recommended a screening programme for lung cancer in June 2022, it took around a year to deliver the initial piloting and feasibility work. Since then, further phases of rolling out the screening programme have followed different timetables, with governments in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales setting separate commitments and targets. The lung cancer screening programme is not yet available across the UK and there is not yet clarity around when it will be fully available.

When it comes to prostate cancer, we know men have already waited too long. So if any form of screening is approved, we’ll urge all four UK governments to commit to starting to roll out screening within 12 months.

Why don’t we already have a screening programme?

In the past, methods for diagnosing prostate cancer were unreliable and often led to men having unnecessary tests and treatments that could be harmful or lead to serious side effects. That’s why there’s never been a routine screening programme before – because previously, there wasn’t enough evidence to show the benefits outweighed these harms.

But today, things are different. We’ve been the driving force behind major improvements in the way we diagnose prostate cancer, making testing safer and more accurate than ever before – and effectively curbing the potential harms.

The UK National Screening Committee is reviewing the latest evidence and later this year will decide if it now shows that the balance has finally tipped in favour of having a screening programme for prostate cancer.

What is the evidence that the UK is falling behind other European nations on early diagnosis?

In 2022 the European Commission recommended that all 27 EU member states adopt a step-by-step approach to prostate cancer screening. In line with this recommendation, the PRAISE-U project has been established to carry out pilot studies of prostate cancer screening in four countries – Ireland, Lithuania, Poland and Spain.

In addition, Sweden has already introduced regional prostate cancer testing programmes.

What’s the difference between men who are ‘at risk’ and men who are ‘at highest risk’?

We know that prostate cancer mainly affects men aged 50+ and that their risk increases as they get older.

However, we also know there are some groups of men who are at even higher risk of getting the disease. This includes:

• Black men – whose risk is double that of other men
• men who have a family history of prostate cancer
• men with a confirmed BRCA gene variations.

What is TRANSFORM and why is it so important in getting us to a screening programme?

TRANSFORM is our groundbreaking £42 million research trial. This once-in-a-generation study – the biggest prostate cancer screening trial for 20 years – will provide the definitive evidence that will lead us to the safest and most accurate method for screening.

Led by six of the world’s top prostate cancer experts and supported by a wider network of collaborating researchers from across the UK, TRANSFORM will investigate several different approaches to testing – including PSA blood tests, MRI scanning and genetic profiling.

Our aim is to find the most robust and viable method of diagnosing prostate cancer, which can be used as part of a routine, nationwide screening programme for all men.

What will TRANSFORM tell us that we don’t already know?

The UK National Screening Committee is currently reviewing the latest evidence for a screening programme that would involve inviting men for a PSA blood test followed by an MRI scan if required. We’ve submitted evidence to the committee that this approach is safe and accurate enough to tip the balance in favour of screening men at highest risk of prostate cancer – particularly Black men and men with a family history of the disease – saving hundreds of lives every year.

However, we know this approach to testing isn’t perfect – and there could be a better combination of tests that’s even more effective and has the potential to save even more lives.

That’s what TRANSFORM will tell us. The team behind the trial will investigate several different approaches to testing – including PSA blood tests, MRI scanning and genetic profiling – to gather the definitive evidence that will lead us to the safest and most accurate way to screen men for prostate cancer. This vital research will provide the evidence to prove that the benefits of screening outweigh the harms for all men – not only those at highest risk – giving us the power to save thousands more lives every year.

What are BRCA genes?

BRCA genes keep healthy cells growing normally, while preventing cancer cells from developing. We all have BRCA genes, which are passed down to us from our parents – but for a small number of people, these genes contain changes that stop them from working properly. These changes are known as gene variations.

BRCA gene variations are more commonly known to increase women’s risk of getting breast or ovarian cancer. The latest research suggests that men who have these variations are at higher risk of getting prostate cancer too. They may also increase their risk of getting an aggressive form of the disease that can grow and spread quickly.