Former UK Prime Minister David Cameron has disclosed that he was diagnosed with prostate cancer earlier this year and has since undergone successful treatment.
The 59-year-old peer told The Times that his wife urged him to get checked after the couple heard a BBC radio interview with entrepreneur Nick Jones, who spoke about his own diagnosis and urged men to get tested. Cameron took a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test, which indicated elevated levels, followed by an MRI scan and biopsy. He later received focal therapy, a targeted treatment that destroys cancer cells using techniques such as ultrasound waves.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men in the UK, with around 55,000 new cases annually. Although PSA tests can detect proteins associated with prostate cancer, they are not always reliable — a key reason the UK does not currently have a national screening programme.
Cameron said he chose to speak publicly in hopes of encouraging more men to get tested, especially those at higher risk. “I don’t particularly like discussing my personal intimate health issues, but I feel I ought to,” he said. “Men are not very good at talking about their health. We tend to put things off.”
The former prime minister — who led the country from 2010 to 2016 and later served as foreign secretary — said he would have felt “bad” if he had not shared his experience. “I had a scan. It helped me discover something that was wrong. It gave me the chance to deal with it,” he said.
His comments come shortly after the launch of a major UK prostate cancer screening trial, designed to assess new detection methods against current NHS practices, which include blood tests and biopsies. Prostate Cancer UK is co-funding the trial.
Chiara De Biase, director of health services at the charity, praised Cameron’s decision to go public. “We lose 12,000 dads, brothers, sons and friends to this disease every year,” she said. “Prostate cancer is the last major cancer without a screening programme, and we need change now.”
According to Prostate Cancer UK, one in eight men will be diagnosed with the disease in their lifetime. It has now overtaken breast cancer as the most commonly diagnosed cancer in the UK.
Last year, Scottish cycling legend Sir Chris Hoy revealed he has advanced, terminal prostate cancer, sparking renewed calls for earlier testing. Health Secretary Wes Streeting has since asked the NHS to assess whether the recommended age for routine PSA testing should be lowered from 50.