'Had I not pushed for a test, it would have been stage 4'

Paul Campbell had to fight for his cancer diagnosis as fears grow of a two-tier NHS that is based upon patient ethnicity.

- RACHEL CLUN

Getting tested for prostate cancer should have been easy for Paul Campbell. He wanted a check-up after seeing an advert on TV calling for men in their 40s to get thorough health checks.

He asked his GP but was immediately questioned about why he – a man who seemed otherwise healthy – would want a checkup.

“I had to fight my ground, I had to raise my voice. And eventually, I got the test,” Mr Campbell told The Independent.

He was later diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer. “Had I not been assertive and pushy, by the time I found out, it would have been stage 4.”

Mr Campbell is far from being alone in his experience. New research from the NHS Race and Health Observatory found “alarming levels” of discrimination towards patients from ethnic minorities and huge levels of mistrust in the NHS system.

The survey of 2,680 people found only 55 per cent trusted primary care to meet their health needs most or all of the time, while a third of south Asian participants said they either rarely or never trusted primary care to meet their health needs.

Half of the participants (51 per cent) reported some form of discrimination due to their ethnicity or other characteristics like gender or socioeconomic status, with 49 per cent of Black participants and 38 per cent of Asian participants saying they felt they were treated differently.