{"id":914519,"date":"2026-06-21T18:12:53","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T23:12:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/21\/new-health-secretary-could-overrule-decision-to-reject-mass-prostate-cancer-screening-programme-that-campaigners-say-would-condemn-thousands-of-men-to-avoidable-death\/"},"modified":"2026-06-21T18:12:53","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T23:12:53","slug":"new-health-secretary-could-overrule-decision-to-reject-mass-prostate-cancer-screening-programme-that-campaigners-say-would-condemn-thousands-of-men-to-avoidable-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/21\/new-health-secretary-could-overrule-decision-to-reject-mass-prostate-cancer-screening-programme-that-campaigners-say-would-condemn-thousands-of-men-to-avoidable-death\/","title":{"rendered":"New Health Secretary &#8216;could overrule decision to reject mass prostate cancer screening programme&#8217; that campaigners say would &#8216;condemn thousands of men to avoidable death&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"js-article-text\">\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Get your news delivered straight to you by 7am &#8211; <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/link.news.dailymail.co.uk\/join\/morning-mail-sign-up?utm_source=dailymail.co.uk&#038;utm_medium=organic_editorial&#038;utm_campaign=conversion_newsletter&#038;utm_term=morning_mail_blob&#038;utm_budgetpot=organic\">sign up to our new Morning Mail newsletter for FREE<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>See more Daily Mail on Google &#8211; <a rel=\"nofollow noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/google.com\/preferences\/source?q=dailymail.com\">save us as a Preferred Source<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>By CLAIRE ELLICOTT <\/p>\n<p><span> <span>Published:<\/span> <time datetime=\"2026-05-29T23:53:34+0100\"> 18:53 EDT, 29 May 2026 <\/time> <\/span> | <span> <span>Updated:<\/span> <time datetime=\"2026-05-30T01:38:42+0100\"> 20:38 EDT, 29 May 2026 <\/time> <\/span> <\/p>\n<div itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<p>Ministers could overrule the decision to reject a mass prostate <a target=\"_self\" href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/news\/cancer\/index.html\" id=\"mol-b457dc10-5bae-11f1-8399-15a74ac521a7\">cancer<\/a> screening programme that could &#8216;condemn thousands to death&#8217;.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Torsten Bell, the pensions minister, said he would not rule out overturning the recommendation which campaigners branded a &#8216;profound disappointment&#8217;.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He said the decision was for new Health Secretary James Murray who would meet advisers next week to discuss the announcement.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Asked by LBC if the recommendation could be overruled, Mr Bell said: &#8216;I&#8217;m not going to prejudge the decision of the Health Secretary, that&#8217;s for him to do after he&#8217;s met with the chair of the national screening committee.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I&#8217;m certainly not ruling it out, because that&#8217;s a decision for the Health Secretary.&#8217;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He also said that a member of his family had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and was being treated as he said the Government was taking the issue &#8216;very seriously&#8217;.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Campaigners erupted in fury earlier this week after government advisers rejected calls for a major screening programme, branding it &#8216;a real step back&#8217;.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>They argue that the decision condemns thousands of men to an avoidable death after it emerged only a few thousand men will be invited for checks.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>New Health Secretary James Murray is meeting advisers next week to discuss the future of a mass prostate cancer screening programme<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Daily Mail is among those campaigning for a national screening programme to end needless prostate cancer deaths.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Mr Bell&#8217;s words will give them hope that Mr Murray will overrule the decision when he meets the chair of the national screening committee next week.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The power rests with ministers to overturn the recommendation to scale back plans to roll it out nationwide.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>On Thursday, the screening committee published its final recommendation which is that only men aged 45-61 with BRCA2 gene mutations and a family history of certain cancers should qualify.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This means as few as 3,000 will be invited for screening \u2013 a dramatic scaling back on draft guidance from last year which would have meant testing for 30,000 men.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The committee said widening screening could lead to over-diagnosis and over-treatment which could lead to other problems.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Mr Murray will meet the chairman of the UK National Screening Committee on Monday before deciding whether to follow its recommendation &#8211; or overrule it.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Department of Health said he &#8216;will give full and careful consideration to the recommendation&#8217; and will update on the Government&#8217;s response shortly.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It had been understood that he was likely to take the committee&#8217;s advice but commit to following emerging evidence.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Former prime minister Rishi Sunak (pictured), who campaigns on the issue, branded the\u00a0decision &#8216;deeply disappointing&#8217;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>But following an outcry on Thursday \u2013 including by Rishi Sunak, who campaigns on the issue \u2013 Mr Bell suggested the Government could row back.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The former prime minister branded the decision &#8216;deeply disappointing&#8217; and was joined by fellow former prime minister David Cameron, who has been treated for prostate cancer.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Comedian Sir Stephen Fry and Olympian Sir Chris Hoy, who have both battled the disease, also supported calls for a national screening programme.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Last year a major study showed prostate screening slashes the risk of dying from the disease by 13 per cent, with one death prevented for every 456 men checked &#8211; a figure comparable to existing breast and bowel cancer screening programmes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>            <ad-slot position=\"smart_feed\"><\/ad-slot><\/p>\n<p>            <ad-slot position=\"after_article\"><\/ad-slot><\/p><\/div>\n<p> Jeanice Motsinger<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/news\/article-15859537\/Health-Secretary-mass-prostate-cancer-screening-men-death.html?ns_mchannel=rss&#038;ito=1490&#038;ns_campaign=1490\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Get your news delivered straight to you by 7am &#8211; sign up to our new Morning Mail newsletter for FREE See more Daily Mail on Google &#8211; save us as a Preferred Source By CLAIRE ELLICOTT Published: 18:53 EDT, 29 May 2026 | Updated: 20:38 EDT, 29 May 2026 Ministers could overrule the decision to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":914520,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[267,201],"tags":[7419,6116],"class_list":["post-914519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","category-secretary","tag-health","tag-secretary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/914519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=914519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/914519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/914520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=914519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=914519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=914519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}