Policy and Public Affairs in Wales

The Wales Cancer Alliance (WCA) is a coalition of charities working to prevent cancer, improve care, fund research, and influence policy in Wales.

Our membership of the WCA offers opportunities to collaborate with stakeholders across Welsh Government, NHS Wales, charity sector, and patient groups to promote better cancer care for men across Wales affected by prostate cancer.

We meet with members of the WCA every two months. Most recently we supported in the development of the WCA report: Fixing the Foundations:  Building a Long-term Strategic approach to Cancer in Wales. 

We also supported the WCA response to the National Wales Cancer Strategy call for evidence.

Our manifesto for the Senedd elections 2026 and beyond sets out our key priorities for the next Welsh Government to tackle prostate cancer in Wales.

In our manifesto we highlight the key challenges relating to early and fast diagnosis, access to treatment and support, access to prostate cancer data, and offer solutions where available. 

We'll continue to promote our manifesto whilst sharing the experiences of men and healthcare professionals in Wales. As the Welsh Government prepare to publish their National Cancer Strategy for Wales we want to ensure the voices of men and healthcare professionals in Wales are heard loud and clear.

To make the greatest difference for prostate cancer in Wales, we believe the key priorities the Welsh Government should focus on are:

1. Access to prostate cancer specific data

As a priority, stakeholders involved in delivering the national cancer strategy will need access to prostate cancer specific pathway data at both local and national levels, and should include stage, grade, ethnicity and IMD level within the dataset. That way a baseline can be established, and future performance and pathway improvements can be measured over time. Prostate cancer pathway performance data should also be reviewed across all health boards so that meaningful improvement targets and measures can be agreed from the outset and regularly reviewed. This move will also ensure transparency around prostate cancer pathway performance data amongst all key stakeholders.

2. Awareness and early detection of clinically significant cancers

The rate of stage 4 prostate cancer in Wales increased to an all-time high by 2022 and latest data showed there were 689 men diagnosed at stage 4 in that year. A national cancer strategy should include commitments to working in collaboration with Prostate Cancer UK, and other key stakeholders, to design and deliver targeted risk awareness campaigns that effectively reach the men in Wales who are most at risk of a late-stage prostate cancer diagnosis.

3. Fast and accurate diagnosis

Single Cancer Pathway (SCP) performance data on the prostate cancer diagnostic pathway, including MRI scanning and biopsy should be reviewed and action taken to remedy blockages within health boards. Workforce should also be considered to ensure health boards have adequate capacity and skills mix to diagnose or rule out suspected prostate cancer within national SCP targets.

4. Treatment access

Just 1-in-3 men with urological cancer start treatment within 62-days from point of suspicion. And we’ve heard from men with prostate cancer and healthcare professionals that a postcode lottery exists when it comes to treatment access. Men have told us that the status quo creates inequalities and men’s post-treatment care suffers as a result. Giving men access to NICE approved treatments as close to them as possible should be a priority action. A national cancer strategy should include ambitions to rapidly review trial evidence and adopt novel precision treatments, making them accessible to men as soon as possible.

5. Better communication and post-treatment support

Men diagnosed with and treated for prostate cancer tell us that services across Wales are disconnected and outdated. Men, and their loved ones, are often left anxious and needing to advocate for themselves to understand where they are in the care pathway and what to expect next. We recommend the identification and implementation of digital solutions which are acceptable to patients to help address this issue.

6. Listen to men with lived experience of prostate cancer

Through a series of focus groups, we gathered insights from men in Wales and their loved ones highlighting challenges with key aspects of the prostate cancer pathway. Ongoing engagement with people with lived experience through patient reported outcome/experience measures, and patient and public involvement (PPI) activity, will be essential in the development and delivery of a national cancer strategy. Putting patients at the centre will ensure services are designed and delivered with them in mind.

7. Listen to healthcare professionals working in the prostate cancer pathway

Similarly, engagement with healthcare professionals is essential in helping understand the capacity and pressure points in the prostate cancer pathway. Healthcare professionals we’ve engaged with feel that many of the delays and inefficiencies within the prostate cancer pathway are worsened by a lack of long-term strategic planning and regional coordination. Healthcare professionals have practical solutions that should be explored, and where successful, scaled and adapted across Wales. The Urology Clinical Reference Group (CRG) clinical lead position has been vacant for several months now and needs to be resolved swiftly to provide leadership and accountability.