ON NOVEMBER 26, the Leighton Hospital Prostate Cancer Support Group arranged a PSA blood testing event at ASDA Winsford.

This is the first and only store in the UK to allow testing for this the most common cancer in men.

We tested 92 men.

However, the most disturbing issue included four men, all over 60, who informed me that on visiting their GP – at separate medical centres – they were asked if they had any family history of prostate cancer and as they did not they were refused a test.

Three other men, again at separate medical centres, were also denied a test as they showed no symptoms.

Only one GP explained the symptoms.

The Graham Fulford Trust has a database with 50,000 men’s names we have tested over the past five years and over 1,000 confirmed cancers.

The computer shows information that 28 per cent of those were identified from family history, which leaves 72 per cent diagnosed without family history. We also have information that 80 per cent of those men did not have or show symptoms.

If the general consensus across the UK that GPs are refusing men to be tested on these two issues, then how will we ever reduce the high mortality from this type of cancer?

Only eight per cent of eligible men are tested in the UK compared to over 60 per cent across Europe.

Gary Steele MBE Leighton Hospital Prostate Cancer Support Group