Men in London will be able to access a £99 prostate cancer test that is thought to be more effective than the NHS standard PSA detection.
A new scheme rolled out in the capital will offer up to 10,000 men aged between 44 and 74 the chance to have the blood test, which helped diagnose Jeremy Clarkson with an aggressive form of the cancer last year.
The Stockholm3 test has been available in private clinics across the UK since 2023, but usually costs hundreds of pounds for men to access. Instead of testing prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels, it examines a number of different markers known to specifically indicate aggressive forms of prostate cancer.
Research in Europe previously found the test identified up to 90 per cent of clinically significant prostate cancers, compared with just 42 per cent using the PSA test.
Offered as part of a private screening programme, the Stockholm3 scheme is being run by the not-for-profit organisation Central London Healthcare. Around 8,000 men will be able to access the test at a subsidised rate, while a further 2,000 who may struggle to otherwise afford it will be offered it for free.
The service will initially be offered at Nuffield Health’s Barbican Medical Centre in London.
Earlier this year, the UK National Screening Committee recommended against screening all men using the PSA blood test, saying it is “likely to cause more harm than good”.
It said instead that a few thousand high-risk men with a certain gene mutation should be screened for the disease.
The Transform trial, funded by Prostate Cancer UK and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), is currently examining whether there should be wider population testing.
Mr Clarkson is among high-profile figures who are campaigning for the government to “change the story on prostate cancer” and review the rules on testing. The presenter previously revealed his cancer had initially been detected by a PSA test, before he had the more specialised Stockholm3 test which confirmed it.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK, with more than 55,000 men being diagnosed every year and around 12,300 dying from the disease.
In a letter in the on Thursday, Mr Clarkson joined with Sir Stephen Fry and former prime ministers Lord David Cameron and Rishi Sunak to call on the new health secretary Yvette Cooper to introduce a national screening programme.
It said: “Everyone else at high risk doesn’t have guaranteed access to a test that could save their life.
“We believe that’s wrong, and that you, as Secretary of State, have both the evidence and the power to overturn the ruling.”
Signatories, which also include film director Sir Steve McQueen, actor Colin McFarlane and businessman Nick Jones, add: “Unless a man carries one specific genetic variant, there is still no route to a test beyond hoping a GP takes his concerns seriously.
“That cannot be right.”
They then ask Ms Cooper to “commit to a targeted national screening programme”.