The NHS could offer targeted prostate cancer checks at a lower cost than breast screening at just £18 per patient, a major report reveals today.

Prostate Cancer Research suggests that a critical prostate screening program would only need five additional MRI scanners and 75 extra personnel, including four urologists, to be effective.

This initiative could lead to earlier detection of the disease, making treatment more manageable, potentially preventing numerous deaths and giving men an extra 1,254 years of life each year, according to analysis.

The UK National Screening Committee, which guides the government on screening program offerings, is currently evaluating the latest developments in prostate cancer diagnosis and is set to release its conclusions later this year.

However, leaks indicate that the committee may be leaning against a national prostate cancer screening initiative, despite a new report indicating that a focused approach would cost £4 less per eligible individual than existing breast cancer screenings available to women.

Prostate Cancer Research is urging committee members to ‘fully consider’ its ‘significant’ new evidence before finalising their decision.

The charity reports that it would require £25 million annually to provide prostate cancer screenings to 1.3 million high-risk men in the UK, specifically targeting those aged 45 to 69 who are black or have a family history of the disease.

They project that this effort could yield an additional year of life for every £20,000 spent, offering ‘strong evidence in favor of targeted screening’.

Oliver Kemp, chief executive of Prostate Cancer Research

Meanwhile, advances in prostate cancer testing indicate the cost could soon be reduced by a third to £17million, while becoming more accurate.

The report says a targeted prostate cancer screening programme is likely to increase demand for PSA blood tests, MRI scans and biopsies by 23 per cent and this would be ‘manageable’ with a small increase in NHS staff.

The NHS could rent five MRI scanners a year at a cost of around £1million each or use spare capacity in the private sector, which could provide fully-staffed mobile machines.

It is also possible to identify men who qualify for the checks as ethnicity and age are now routinely recorded on GP records and doctors can add notes about family history, the report adds.

Oliver Kemp, chief executive of Prostate Cancer Research, said: ‘We hope the UK National Screening Committee will take notice of the significant findings in this report.

‘It shows that a national screening programme for prostate cancer — targeting men at highest risk — is affordable, deliverable, and will save lives.

‘We cannot sit still while more than 12,000 fathers, husbands, and sons are lost every year.

‘How many more families must be devastated before we act? It’s high time we screen.’

The Daily Mail is campaigning to end needless prostate cancer deaths and for a national prostate cancer screening programme, initially targeted at high risk men.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men, with around 63,000 diagnoses and 12,000 deaths each year in the UK.

Nine in ten men diagnosed with prostate cancer in its early stages are still alive ten years later but this falls to fewer than one in five if caught late, once it has spread around the body.

The Prostate Cancer Research report will be launched at a parliamentary event at the House of Commons on Tuesday, which is expected to be attended by former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who has spoken in support of prostate cancer screening.

Health secretary Wes Streeting has also declared his support for a national prostate cancer screening programme in a major boost for the Mail’s campaign.

The health secretary told MPs in April that he would like to see the NHS proactively offer men tests for the disease in a move that could prevent thousands of needless deaths.

He said he is ‘particularly sympathetic’ to the argument that this should initially be targeted at high-risk men.

The call for targeted screening has also been backed by former home secretary Sir James Cleverly and Calvin Bailey, a Labour MP and the chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on prostate cancer.

The NHS already offers national screening programmes for breast, bowel and cervical cancers.