The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) has today published minutes from its last meeting in March 2026, in which it confirmed the final recommendations with regards to its recent review of prostate cancer screening.

The UK NSC considered a number of different scenarios for prostate cancer screening – including population screening and screening for individual high-risk groups. The APPG on Prostate Cancer throughout 2025 brought together a number of experts to consider head-on some of the considerations for this review, in addition to some of the longstanding barriers to screening being recommended to-date.

In the minutes published, UK NSC confirmed that it recommends offering a targeted national prostate cancer screening programme to men with a confirmed BRCA2 gene variant with a history of breast, ovarian, pancreatic or prostate cancer, every 2 years, from age 45 to age 61. It has not recommended population screening or targeted screening for Black men, men with family history, or men with a BRCA1 gene variant.

Calvin Bailey MBE MP, Chair of the APPG on Prostate Cancer, said:

“Men in the UK deserve a screening programme for prostate cancer. Today’s announcement makes it clear that disappointingly we’re not there yet for a universal programme. It is especially disappointing for Black men, who have not been recommended for targeted screening but who face double the risk of diagnosis and death from prostate cancer compared with other men.

“However, today’s announcement also makes it clear that progress is possible. For the first time ever men with known specific genetic risk factors will be screened, it’s critical that this programme is delivered swiftly, fully and equitably. Going forward we will not stop building and highlighting the evidence so we can achieve wider access to screening for more men. In the meantime, it’s critical men understand their risk and know what they can do about it.”