Coversure funds free prostate cancer tests

Coversure Insurance Brokers has launched a network-wide prostate cancer screening initiative, funding free prostate-specific antigen tests for men across its UK offices.

The broker network said it would provide and distribute rapid diagnostic PSA self-tests to male colleagues, after more than three-quarters of its offices requested the kits ahead of a planned roll out in January.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men, with current statistics showing that one in eight men will be diagnosed during their lifetime.

Despite this, there is no national screening programme for prostate cancer in the UK. Men aged 50 and above, or 45 and above if they are at higher risk, can request a PSA test from their GP.

Coversure said the initiative aimed to remove barriers to testing and encourage earlier detection by making checks easily accessible within the workplace.

Detecting it early

Jordan Maskell, network director at Coversure, said the broker wanted to use its scale to drive awareness and action across the network.

“Raising awareness of prostate cancer is something that we thankfully see in the media relatively frequently these days,” Maskell said. “However, the reality is that not enough men are getting tested.

“I hope that this campaign goes some way to helping men throughout the network and encourages others to take this very simple test that could be life-saving.”

The PSA test measures levels of prostate-specific antigen in the blood, a protein produced by the prostate gland.

Elevated PSA levels can indicate prostate cancer, but can also be linked to other non-cancerous prostate conditions such as benign prostatic hyperplasia or prostatitis. As a result, the test is used as an early screening tool rather than as a definitive diagnostic test.

The tests being offered by Coversure are rapid self-tests, meaning samples do not need to be sent to a laboratory. Results are delivered on the test cassette within 10 minutes.