David Cameron reveals prostate cancer diagnosis and backs screening

Lord David Cameron has revealed he was successfully treated for prostate cancer as he backed a targeted screening programme for the UK’s most common cancer in males.

The former prime minister was urged to get tested by his wife, Samantha, after the pair heard the founder of Soho House, Nick Jones, speaking about his experience with the cancer on the radio a year ago, the Times reported.

The politician had a prostate specific antigen (PSA) test, an MRI scan and then a biopsy which confirmed the diagnosis.

“You always dread hearing those words,” he told the Times.

“And then literally as they’re coming out of the doctor’s mouth you’re thinking, ‘Oh, no, he’s going to say it. He’s going to say it. Oh God, he said it’.”

He acknowledged his “platform”, adding: “This is something we’ve really got to think about, talk about, and if necessary, act on.”

Lord Cameron told the newspaper he wants to support a call for screening to be offered to high-risk men.

“I want to, as it were, come out,” he said. “I want to add my name to the long list of people calling for a targeted screening programme.

“I don’t particularly like discussing my personal intimate health issues, but I feel I ought to.

“Let’s be honest. Men are not very good at talking about their health. We tend to put things off.

“We’re embarrassed to talk about something like the prostate, because it’s so intricately connected with sexual health and everything else.

“I sort of thought, well, this has happened to you, and you should lend your voice to it.

“I would feel bad if I didn’t come forward and say that I’ve had this experience. I had a scan. It helped me discover something that was wrong. It gave me the chance to deal with it.”

He received focal therapy for treatment, in which electrical pulses target and destroy cancer cells.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in males in the UK, with around 55,000 new cases every year.

There is currently no screening programme for prostate cancer in the UK because of concerns about the accuracy of PSA tests.

“I know it’s not a slam dunk,” he told the Times. “There are respectable arguments against a screening programme.

“You’ve always got to think how many cases do we discover and how many misdiagnoses are there and how many people will be treated unnecessarily.

“But it seems to me that quite a lot of things have changed over the last few years.

“The circumstances are changing. The arguments are changing, and so it’s a really good moment to have another look at this.”

Lord Cameron’s announcement comes days after the first eligible men in the UK were invited to join a major trial testing the most promising screening techniques for the disease.

The Transform project will compare various screening methods to current NHS diagnostic processes – which can include blood tests and biopsies.

It will be delivered in partnership with the NHS through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), which has committed £16 million in funding, with the remainder coming from charity Prostate Cancer UK.

The launch comes as the UK National Screening Committee (NSC) prepares to announce its decision on whether current evidence supports the introduction of screening for the disease.

Chiara De Biase, director of health services, equity and improvement at Prostate Cancer UK said: “We’re glad to hear that David Cameron found his prostate cancer at an early stage and had successful treatment.

“We thank him for sharing his story and in doing so raising vital awareness of this disease, which is completely curable if found early. But men’s lives should not be left to chance.

“We lose 12,000 dads, brothers, sons and friends to this disease every year. We’ve reached a tipping point in the UK, with too many men dying from a curable disease and worse outcomes for men at higher risk like black men and men from working class communities.

“Prostate cancer is the last major cancer without a screening programme, and we need change now.”