Postcode lottery in prostate check

Greater cancer risk to men in poor areas

- BY MARTIN BAGOT Health Editor

THE offer of blood tests to check for prostate cancer is a postcode lottery, GP records reveal.

Men in poorer areas were found to be more likely to get late-stage prostate cancer but less likely to be checked.

Men over 50 can ask for a PSA test from their NHS GP.

But a study of records of 9,800 men in England, diagnosed with the cancer since 2018, found just one in five patients were offered a PSA test and diagnosed despite having no symptoms.