What is prostate cancer and how is it diagnosed in the UK?

David Cameron has become the latest high-profile figure to back growing calls for the NHS to start screening men, or at least those at highest risk, for prostate cancer after being treated for it himself.He joined Olympic cycling champion Chris Hoy and prostate cancer charities in saying that recent advances in diagnosing the disease mean that testing can be introduced that is much safer than traditional methods, which can produce both false-positive and false-negative results.However, others, including Cancer Research UK, disagree.On Thursday, the UK National Screening Committee will meet to discuss the latest evidence on the subject. The independent committee, which advises ministers, is under pressure to allow testing to begin of those men at highest risk: black men, those with a family history of prostate, breast or cervical cancer and men who carry the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene

NHS directed pregnant women to controversial Free Birth Society via charity

Exclusive: NHS websites pointed women to factsheet featuring podcast by ‘dangerous’ influencers linked to baby deaths Full story: How the FBS is linked to baby deaths around the worldThe NHS has been directing pregnant women to a website that connected them to the Free Birth Society, an organisation that has been linked to baby deaths around the world after promoting labour without medical support.A number of NHS trusts are directing women who are contemplating a “free birth” to a charity website that until Monday referred to FBS podcasts as a source of “empowering stories” that can help British women “preparing for their own birth”.It contained a link to the FBS podcast, which medical experts warn is being used to radicalise women with misinformation.FBS advocates an extreme version of free birth, otherwise known as unassisted birth. It advises mothers not to use doctors or midwives and suggests they avoid pregnancy scans

DWP to reassess hundreds of thousands of cases in carer’s allowance scandal

Hundreds of thousands of vulnerable unpaid carers will have their cases reassessed after a damning official review concluded they had been left with huge debts because of government failure and maladministration.The review, due to be published on Tuesday, was triggered after a year-long Guardian investigation revealed how carers had been hit with draconian penalties of as much as £20,000 relating to carer’s allowance. Some were plunged into hardship, others were jailed.Ministers have promised to cancel or reduce penalties that were wrongly issued after the review concluded many were the result of official error rather than “wilful rule-breaking”.However, the government has stopped short of offering compensation to those affected

The carer’s allowance scandal – a timeline

Ministers have announced a major review of the penalties imposed on hundreds of thousands of unpaid carers after a damning independent investigation of the carer’s allowance scandal.The inquiry by Liz Sayce was launched after the Guardian revealed how a catalogue of failures at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) had left scores of vulnerable families with huge debts and hundreds with criminal convictions for fraud.Those who care for loved ones for at least 35 hours a week are entitled to £83.30 a week in carer’s allowance, as long as their weekly earnings do not exceed £196. But if they exceed this limit, even by as little as 1p, they must repay that entire week’s carer’s allowance

More than 100 MPs urge Streeting to approve prostate cancer screening

More than 100 MPs, including Rishi Sunak, have urged Wes Streeting to introduce screening for prostate cancer.The UK National Screening Committee, a government agency that advises ministers and the NHS about all aspects of screening, will recommend whether men at higher risk of the disease should be offered checks. It is due to write to the health secretary later this week, the Telegraph reported.Sunak, who is leading a cross-party alliance of 125 MPs, met Streeting on Monday evening to hand him an open letter urging the government to introduce tests so men at the highest risk, including Black men, men with a family history of prostate, breast or ovarian cancer, and those carrying the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, are “no longer left behind”.The letter says: “Our current opportunistic PSA [prostate-specific antigen] testing system is unstructured, inefficient and unfair – a postcode lottery where some men succeed because they know to ask or can pay privately, while others are turned away despite repeated requests

John Stuart Brown obituary

In 1979, the British Medical Journal published an article by a Kent GP, John Stuart Brown, titled “Minor operations in general practice”.Brown, who has died aged 90, wrote that undertaking an average of four minor operations a week in his GP surgery had huge advantages compared to referring patients to hospital. It was faster, more convenient for patients and cost-effective, saving the area health authority more than £15,000 a year. He estimated the average cost of a procedure in his GP surgery was £5, compared to £78.24 in hospital