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. 

When is a decision on screening likely to be made?

We don’t know exactly when a decision on screening will be made. However, it’s likely that the UK National Screening Committee will make a recommendation on prostate cancer screening during autumn 2025. Any final decision will be subject to a further three-month public consultation phase. 

What are the possible outcomes of the committee’s review?

The UK National Screening Committee will review the latest evidence on prostate cancer screening. The committee will decide whether there’s now enough evidence to prove that the benefits of screening men for prostate cancer would outweigh the potential harms. 

The committee’s decision could go one of three ways: 

1. No screening 
2. Targeted screening for men at highest risk 
3. Screening for all men 

Any final decision will be subject to a further three-month public consultation phase. 

If screening is approved, 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 or over – and your risk increases as you get older. If you’re over 50 and you’re worried about prostate cancer, you can take our quick and easy online Risk Checker to check your risk in 30 seconds.

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

• Black men – whose risk is double that of other men
• men who have a family history of prostate cancer
• men with a confirmed genetic variant that puts them at increased risk.

If you’re over 45 and have a higher risk of prostate cancer - because you’re Black or because you have a family history of the disease - it’s a good idea to ask your GP about having a simple PSA blood test to check for early warning signs.

You can also use our Risk Information Service to learn more about your risk of prostate cancer and what to do next.