Today, the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) published its draft recommendation to offer prostate cancer screening only to men who carry a BRCA1 or BRCA2 genetic variant.

For some families, this will be welcome news – and we recognise how important that is. But for the vast majority of men, including those at highest risk, including Black men and those with a family history of prostate, breast or ovarian cancer – this decision will feel deeply disappointing and unfair.

You have signed petitions, written to your MPs, shared your stories and spoken up for the men you love. Many of you know first-hand the cost of a late diagnosis. To see one high-risk group included while others are left behind does not feel like the progress men deserve.

But we want to be absolutely clear with you: this is not the final decision.

A 12-week public consultation now begins. This is our opportunity to make sure the voices of men and families are impossible to ignore.

Why this decision falls short

While recommending screening for BRCA carriers is a step in the right direction, we do not believe the Committee’s analysis reflects the full breadth of evidence, nor understand the terrible inequalities that are worsening in this country.

If left unchallenged, this decision means thousands of high-risk men will continue to be diagnosed too late, when their cancer is no longer curable.

It does not have to be this way.

We still have a window to act

Over the next 12 weeks, the Government and the UK NSC will review all consultation responses before the recommendation is finalised.

That means your voice has real power.

You have helped build the biggest public call for prostate cancer screening this country has ever seen. Together, we can push for a fair, evidence-based screening programme that includes all men at highest risk.

Here’s what we need from you today

Please add your name calling on the Government to extend screening to Black men and men with a family history, not just BRCA carriers:

Sign the petition: https://act.prostate-cancer-research.org.uk/a/say-yes-to-screening

And once you’ve signed, please share it widely.

Every signature strengthens the case during this consultation period.

We will not stop

We will keep pushing with you – in Parliament, in the media, and with policymakers – until we have a screening programme that is not just for a small fraction of men.

We will also continue to build the evidence, fund the research and make the necessary investments to secure a screening programme for all men in the not-too-distant future.

Your support has brought us this far. It is because of you that prostate cancer is now a national priority, and because of you that the Government must now reconsider its position.

Today’s news is not enough, and it is not the end.

Together, we can still change this.

Thank you, truly, for standing with us.

David James

Director of Patient Projects & Influencing

Prostate Cancer Research