Over 50s urged to have test for prostate cancer

Published on Monday 19 July 2010 18:15

ANDREW Lloyd-Webber has called for all men over the age of 50 to have a test that can help diagnose the cancer he suffered from.

The composer was given the all-clear this year following treatment for prostate cancer.

Lord Lloyd-Webber, a Tory peer, said at question time in the House of Lords: "The Prostate UK charity reckons that 10,000 men a year die needlessly not diagnosed with prostate cancer."

He said that while the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test was "not wholly reliable" he believed that "all men over 50 should have the PSA test and GPs should be encouraged to encourage them to do so".

Shadow Lords leader Baroness Royall of Blaisdon, whose husband Stuart Hercock died of prostate cancer aged 62 during the general election campaign, warned that too many GPs "were not vigilant enough and they don't recognise the symptoms". In reply to Lord Lloyd-Webber, Lord Howe said that last year the Department of Health had written to two primary care trusts "to remind them that any man without symptoms of prostate cancer who wishes to have a PSA test is entitled to have one".

But he added: "It is important that anyone availing of the test does so on a fully informed basis because the test is unreliable and can lead to unpleasant side effects."