Two ways to help turn a diagnosis before it’s too late into a system that finds it.
The UK National Screening Committee’s targeted programme starts in 2027 and covers around 1,500 men in England. At least 19,000 men a year are diagnosed at Stage 3 or 4. Here is how you can push for more, whether you have five minutes or thirty.
Write to your MP
A short, evidence-first template you can send to your MP tonight. It asks them to put four questions in writing to the Minister after the Westminster Hall debate of 26 October.
- A named review date tied to TRANSFORM stage 1 reporting, not the 2029 default
- Confirmation that family history, BRCA1 and Black men go into the three-year model
- Why screening is judged at £20,000 per QALY when late-stage medicines are approved at £35,000
- The model’s assumptions opened to independent scrutiny on NICE terms
Post-debate · 28 October 2026 · .odt (opens in Word, LibreOffice, Google Docs and Pages)
The Spending Review 2027 brief
A six-page patient policy brief making the case for risk-stratified prostate screening to be classified as preventative DEL at Spending Review 2027. Written for APPG secretariats, committee clerks, DHSC and HM Treasury officials, and health policy leads.
- Include early detection in the preventative DEL definition
- Name the review date and set the modelling scope
- Explain the £20,000 against £35,000 threshold gap
- Open the screening model on terms equivalent to NICE’s
Six pages · referenced to Hansard, Budget 2026 and DHSC written answers · PDF, 1 MB
Why this matters now
At Budget 2026 on 28 October the Chancellor created a new ringfenced category of public spending, preventative DEL, for introduction at Spending Review 2027. It is for money spent now that brings costs down later. The rules written for that category will decide whether a national risk-stratified prostate cancer screening programme can be bid for as preventative spending, or has to compete inside the ordinary health settlement.
The Minister told the House on 26 October that the screening model is funded for three more years and that evidence from TRANSFORM can be considered as it emerges. TRANSFORM reports its first stage before the end of 2027. The next scheduled review is 2029. Nothing yet links the two. Both the letter and the brief are built around that gap.
Sources: Hansard, 26 October 2026, Westminster Hall, Prostate Cancer Screening, HC Deb vol 792, cc1WH–27WH · HM Treasury, Budget 2026, section 3.4 · DHSC written answer UIN 8696, 16 June 2026 · Cancer Research UK, stage at diagnosis, England 2022.
I was 52, I had no prostate cancer symptoms, and I had to ask. The men who come after me should not have to.
Contact peter@smartasdaddy.com · A full media kit is available on request.
© 2026 Smart As Daddy / Peter Wingrove. All rights reserved.