Treatment and quality of care for the most common form of cancer affecting men varies ‘worryingly’ around the country

Treatment and quality-of-life care for the most common form of cancer found in men varies “worringly” across the country, campaigners have suggested.

Reacting to a first-of-its-kind audit of prostate cancer services across England and Wales, Owen Sharp, chief executive of Prostate Cancer UK, called for services to be improved “without delay”.

The National Prostate Cancer Audit, which issued its first report on Monday, found that four out of five hospitals in England offered the most advanced radiotherapy and only half provided the support services men may need to manage side-effects.

Prostate cancer affects around 40,000 men each year, resulting in 10,000 deaths, and the purpose of the audit will be to look at whether NHS services meet recommended standards.

“Although there have been some improvements in access to the more sophisticated diagnosis and treatment techniques, the audit reveals a worryingly vast variation in availability of these options and that around half of men with prostate cancer do not receive all the support services they should,” Sharp told the Times.

“Such findings cannot be ignored. If we are to tackle this disease head on and improve quality of life of those living with it, it is imperative the recommendations made in today’s audit are heeded by commissioners and used to drive improvement without delay.”

The report recommended that both diagnostic multiparametric MRI scans, currently only available in three-quarters of English hospitals and two-thirds of Welsh ones, and high-dose brachytherapy for advanced patients, only available in just 20% of centres in England, must be made “more widely available”.

“The availability of personal support services including cancer advisory centres, sexual function and continence advice, and psychological counselling should be improved,” the report added.

Dr Heather Payne, the oncological lead in the NPCA audit, also told the paper: “The aim of anyone working in prostate cancer is that the quality of care across the country is consistent and that every man has access to the best treatment. Advanced technologies aren’t available in all hospitals at the moment.”

The NPCA audit seeks to create a database of patient and clinical information and will continue for the next five years at least.

Professor Noel Clarke, NPCA urological clinical lead, added: “The National Prostate Cancer Audit will help us to monitor how men with this very serious condition are being treated. It will improve our current standards of care and facilitate the development of better means for diagnosis, treatment and support of patients and their families.”