The NHS will begin contacting 500,000 men this week, inviting them to join a major prostate cancer study on earlier detection and better treatment.
Letters and text messages will be sent to men who have had prostate cancer or are living with the disease, explaining how they can register for Prostate Progress.
Those who take part will complete questionnaires every few months about their experiences. They will also agree to information from their NHS records being securely linked and used in approved research.
Professor Peter Johnson, NHS national clinical director for cancer, said: “Prostate cancer affects the lives of tens of thousands of men every year, and we’ve seen survival rates rising in recent decades thanks to ground-breaking research and clinical trials.
“It’s really important that we understand how prostate cancer affects men’s lives in detail, which is why we’re joining forces with the charity Prostate Cancer Research, so we can continue to transform care and treatment.
“We’ll be contacting over half a million men over the next few months who have or who have had prostate cancer, and I’d urge anyone who receives an invite to Prostate Progress to sign up.
“Joining Prostate Progress today will make a tremendous difference to the lives of men who are diagnosed with prostate cancer in the future.”
Prostate Cancer Research is leading the programme, with support from the NHS’s DigiTrials recruitment service.
The programme follows an initial pilot involving 5,000 participants and is intended to become one of the world’s largest prostate cancer research resources.
Verified researchers will compare participants’ reported symptoms, treatment experiences and quality of life with information in their NHS records.
Linking the two sets of information could help researchers better understand the disease, improve diagnosis, develop treatments and tests, monitor treatment safety and plan NHS services.
The programme will also look at treatment side effects and how they affect men’s quality of life. Its findings could help shape future clinical trials, which are studies that test treatments or approaches to care.
Prostate Progress is particularly seeking Black men, who are around twice as likely to develop prostate cancer.
Around one in four Black men in the UK is expected to receive a diagnosis during his lifetime. Organisers said greater representation could help researchers investigate differences in diagnosis, treatment and outcomes.
Prostate cancer is the UK’s most common cancer, with around 60,000 new cases diagnosed and more than 12,000 deaths each year.
The government has made cancer research and innovation a key focus of the National Cancer Plan for England. Its aims include making the NHS the first choice for clinical trials, speeding up the spread of innovation, setting clear research priorities and widening access to clinical trials across the country.
Health minister James Frith said: “Prostate cancer is now the most common cancer in the UK, and every piece of data we gather brings us closer to the tests and treatments that future patients will depend on to live well for longer.
“Prostate Progress has the potential to become a hugely important resource, but only if men come forward and share their experiences, so I encourage anyone who receives an invitation to sign up.
“This is the kind of innovation the government’s National Cancer Plan is designed to support, making the NHS a world-leading destination for cancer research and ensuring patients across the country can help shape the treatments of tomorrow.”
