Rishi Sunak has repeated demands for expanded prostate cancer screening, arguing that the decision to reject broader testing relied on a flawed model.

The Conservative former prime minister, who stood down from Downing Street in 2024, stated he "dove" into data behind the UK’s National Screening Committee (NSC) recommendation and considered it to be incorrect.

Mr Sunak, who acts as an ambassador for Prostate Cancer Research, said he was "disappointed" by the NSC's decision.

Earlier this year, the committee decided against rolling out wider population screening for prostate cancer through prostate specific antigen (PSA) blood tests.

The committee cautioned that screening is "more likely to cause more harm than good in the whole population", as subsequent treatments can trigger side effects including incontinence and impotence.

Instead, men carrying BRCA2 genetic mutations – which place them at significantly elevated risk of prostate cancer – will undergo screening every two years between the ages of 45 and 61 if they have a family history of breast, ovarian, pancreatic or prostate cancers.

Prostate cancer occurs more frequently, develops earlier and can be more aggressive within this group.

Mr Sunak said: “I, like many other campaigners, was disappointed with the decision of the National Screening Committee.

“The Budget is not until Wednesday.

“Colleagues know I like numbers, and I dove into the model behind that decision.

“I think there are a few issues which I hope the minister can go back and have a look at that.”

He said the model’s assumption of treatment costs was wrong, and it had incorrectly understated how many men receive the most advanced drugs.

Mr Sunak added: “We heard about the concern of over-treatment.

“However, modern diagnostic pathways offer ways to reduce unnecessary treatment and diagnosis.”

Campaigners including athletes Sir Chris Hoy, the late broadcaster Dermot Murnaghan, and former prime minister Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton have all previously called for the screening to be made more widely available.

In response to the NSC’s decision earlier this year, Lord Cameron posted on X: “This was an opportunity for bold, decisive, life-saving action – action that would help save the heartache of too many families losing a loved-one to this disease. That, sadly, has been missed.”

However concerns have been raised about the blood test’s reliability.

Labour MP and former surgeon Dr Peter Prinsley said some men with a PSA reading of greater than four do not have cancer when they have a biopsy.

However health minister Diana Johnson said men outside the screening programme would be able to request the check through their GP.

Dr Prinsley said: “PSA is the blood test which is used in screening.

“What’s the problem?

“False positive: three quarters of men with a PSA greater than four will not have cancer on biopsy, false negative.

“Men with cancer have a normal PSA, so it’s not a yes or no test.

“Maybe not massively useful.”

He added that he, along with others, did find it difficult to understand why whole population screening was not being taken up.

Responding to the debate, Ms Johnson said: “Everybody in this room today, in this chamber, wants to see the same thing.

“We want fewer men to die from prostate cancer.

“We want cancers that need treatment to be found earlier, and we want every man to receive the care that is right for him.

“But we must achieve that while also protecting men from unnecessary diagnosis and from treatments that can leave lifelong consequences for a cancer that may never have caused harm.

“So the question before us is not whether we want to prevent more deaths from prostate cancer.

“Of course, we do.

“The question is how we do that safely, effectively, and fairly, using the best available evidence while continuing to build the evidence where it is not yet strong enough.

“As that evidence develops, as I have said, we must be prepared to act.”

Ms Johnson added that men, if they wanted to have a PSA test, could still ask for one from their GP.

She said: “With the information given to the man requesting a PSA test, that the GP would, if the choice is there and the individual wants to have that test, that he would have that test.”

David James, director of patient projects and influencing at Prostate Cancer Research, said: “Too many men are diagnosed after prostate cancer has spread and can no longer be cured.

“Improving early diagnosis for men at higher risk, including black men and men with a strong family history, must remain a priority.”