Firstly, calm the fuck down dear.
Second - point out where I was sniggering about ‘fingers up the bum’
Thirdly - the link I shared was NHS advice about the blood test and if you read it you’ll see it includes the aforementioned pre test advice
Fourthly, now shut the fuck up.
No I will just go ahead get the test, as I would suggest other people do, and I will take advice from the professionals.
Make sure you follow the prescribed NHS advice before your blood test 
Men are just shite at this sort of thing. Women, quite rightly, demanded and eventually got regular testing in place. Men on the other hand don’t want to talk about things in open and adopt the stiff upper lip, I’m fine, don’t bother seeing doctors till its often to late. Men of corresponding age should be offered screening for testicular and prostrate cancer on a regular basis. Until men’s groups make enough noise about it and it becomes a voting issue nothing will happen, but we probably won’t cause we are big and tough and don’t need doctors!
No idea how I’m going to get a PSA test done then… 
This.
And - all the very best with your treatment Nick.
I have a friend locally who’s just going through PC treatment at the moment, and I’ve learned a lot from his experiences. Enlarged prostate, often a precursor condition for PC, is very common as we get older; the rule of thumb is that the percentage of men with enlarged prostate is the same as our age - and enlarged prostate can be tested for. All the more reason to ask the doc for a test, to get as much warning as possible.
There’s a couple of things here. It’s not strictly funding - the NHS long term plan talks about moving more to prevention, but the actual commitment towards this in practice is still quite poor.
I’ve tried to move money away from wasteful and agreed low clinical value spend towards investing in screening programmes particularly for cancer, including lung and prostate and was surprised that the first thing you come up against is clinical resistance from doctors across the board. It needs a real change in mindset at national level to start to change this. Only last year I put together a business case for lung cancer screening across Wales for example - lagging way behind and still needing to be convinced!
Second issue is awareness and a need to change mens attitudes to taking more ownership of their own health. Again an area where there’s a way to go, as shown in this example, most men aren’t aware of the PSA test.
I’ve increasingly begun to think that the NHS response to cancer is shaped by how secondary care is organised into discrete specialties and their relationship with Oncology. For example their are lots of lung physicians, but things like testicular and prostate cancer usually end up lumped in with the workload of Urologists for whom general bladder diseases and surgery take up most of their focus. Even a specialist cancer centre urologist I’m currently working with sees prostate cancer as maybe not trivial but something that doesn’t demand too much attention due to the incidence and low rates of treatment vs watchful waits etc.
Anyway, the most positive thing I can suggest is that if you’re male and over 50 please don’t ignore the invites from your local GP for health checks as these are a vital opportunity to spot things early.
And @Myrman i hope things go well for you and that treatment isn’t needed.
Invites from the local GP you say, lol. If only they were all as well organised as the health care in Frome.
Having said that I will force the issue with my GP and see where that goes.
Your GP practice really has to be pretty shit to not bother sending texts or letter invites for health checks as they get a good fee per and its a license to print money basically.
I get invites every year for an ‘MOT’ from the GP as I am diabetec and have COPD.
This seems to be because like a lot of practices they have invested in specialist Diabetes and Asthma (lumping in all respiratory stuff here) nurses.
I am not sure what they call these practioners, they are not doctors but can write prescriptions etc.
No one has ever mentioned a PSA test.
My ‘MOT’ is due in June and I was going to ask for a PSA but then the emails came through from the golf club so I signed up for that.
ANPs, Advanced Nurse Practitioners, can write prescriptions and perform various procedures and review some diagnostics etc.
We are way too slow in this country to embrace and expand their use, because doctors etc.
I suspect that when the local GPs are balls deep in providing health care for illnesses resulting from poverty, and lots of it. Providing preventative care for the well is at the bottom of their list. Recruitment in rural areas is difficult, the are no major hospitals in the vicinity so no draw from the area that happens when you have first class consultants.
This isn’t isolated to Cumbria, my BiL, a retired GP and now on a commissioning group at county level, faces the same issues. They are, correctly, taking decisions that direct resource to areas that need them, all areas defined by poverty. That’s in Cornwall.
He was telling about the Frome pilot scheme that essentially integrated health and social care under a single authority, largely successful and left headroom for preventative care, which is where GPs want to be in equal measure.
I agree with the basic sentiment re poverty but that’s why practices employ or train up practice nurses to ANP standard so that they can ease pressure on GPs and rake in health check monies. Also all GP practices have to be members of a local Primary Care Network and this is a way of pooling resources and hosting services like this for the community without having to offer it at every practice.
I go to lots of practices up and down the country and rurality although presents different challenges, it isn’t the reason for poor GP services etc.
Well there you have it. I’m 61, been with the same GP firm for over 20 years, and since turning 50 I have NEVER been called in for any routine check up.
Perhaps the reason is that they are understaffed and are having to deal with an ever increasing workload due to the constant building of new estates / houses and all the extra people they bring.
My GP contacted me just before I was 40 and again at 45 and they did a full checkup with blood tests etc. I thought this was a standard thing done every 5 years over 40?
I’ve never, in my entire life, had such a thing. Not even once.
Just checked my GPs Webby, other than the basics around prostate cancer symptoms, nothing else. The well between the ages of 16 and 75 get a check up if they haven’t been seen for 3 years and you have to ask for it. That’s it, nothing else.
I think I may have words and see what’s possible. Men see a GP only half as often as women, I suspect we are shit about demanding services. I feel the need to stir things up a bit.
I get a call for a basic check annually. Check blood pressure, weight and bollocking for drinking too much.
You could just stay home and save yourself the mileage for that one.
So to conclude: postcode lottery.