Warrington GP practice’s prostate cancer screening project shows potential to save lives – and open up a dialogue with men about their symptoms

Chapelford Medical Centre, a GP practice in Warrington, ran a project to improve awareness and access to prostate cancer advice, and screen for ‘high risk’ men registered at the practice.

The project was based on a toolkit from Prostate Cancer UK, adapted to meet the needs of the local population, which outlines the process of proactively engaging men in making informed, personalised decisions about having a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test for prostate cancer. 

Men identified as being of elevated risk of prostate cancer were contacted by the practice and offered information about the risks and benefits of a PSA blood test, details and how to book a test and access to a personalised risk checker from Prostate Cancer UK.

There is currently no national prostate cancer screening programme for asymptomatic men in the UK, as using PSA testing as part of a blanket screening programme is not likely to be effective and may even cause harm.

This is due to potential false negative results, false positive results leading to unnecessary and invasive subsequent tests, and the real risk of ‘overdiagnosis’ – finding a cancer that may never have caused any harm or changed life expectancy in the first place.

However, the team at Chapelford Medical Centre agreed that there is value in proactively engaging with higher-risk men about prostate cancer, and offering informed decision-making support and a PSA test, should they feel comfortable with the potential risks and benefits.

The target population for the initiative comprised three key at-risk groups according to national guidance and statistics: men aged 50 to 70, black men aged 45 to 70, and men aged 45 to 70 with a recorded family history of prostate cancer.

The project, led by an advanced nurse practitioner, ran over a 12-week period starting in November 2023 and identified 689 men who met the inclusion criteria and were contacted by the GP practice. 238 men opted to have a PSA blood test, of which 18 had test results come back as abnormal.

Upon review 12 men were deemed suitable for a urology referral for suspected prostate cancer, and after an MRI scan, biopsy, or both, four asymptomatic prostate cancers were discovered – two of which were of high clinical significance – increasing the likelihood of successful treatment.

As well as potentially saving lives, the project led to increased diagnoses of other pathologies such as enlarged prostate and overactive bladder. The project also opened up a dialogue with men about prostate, bladder and urinary symptoms, and was well received by participants, who were empowered to make informed decisions about their care.

The project remains live and continues to show promising results.