GPs turning down men for prostate cancer blood test

Men may find it easier to request blood tests that can spot prostate cancer if they take out health insurance, new findings could suggest.

According to research by the Prostate Cancer Charity (PCC), as many as 20 per cent of males who request the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test are turned down by their GPs.

PSA is a substance produced by the prostate gland that suggests cancer may be present when found in larger-than-normal quantities in the blood.

However, the PCC warned that as many as 70 per cent of those most at risk of the disease - the over 50s - are not even aware that the test exists.

Commenting on the findings, Dr Jodie Moffat, of Cancer Research UK, expressed her alarm.

"GP surgeries have been sent information to help advise men about the PSA test, so it is worrying that some men say they have been turned down for the test by their doctor," she said.

Prostate cancer is the most common form of the disease diagnosed in men in the UK, where there are 35,000 new cases diagnosed every year, according to the PCC.

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