Sunday, August 1, 2010



The composer was given the all-clear from the disease this year following treatment.

Lord Lloyd-Webber, a Conservative peer, said at question time on 19 July 2010 in the House of Lords: "The Prostate UK charity reckons that 10,000 men a year die needlessly not diagnosed with prostate cancer."

He said that while the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test was "not wholly reliable" he believed that "all men over 50 should have the PSA test and GPs should be encouraged to encourage them to do so".

Andrew Lloyd-Webber has called for all men over the age of 50 to have a test for prostate cancer.

Shadow Lords leader Baroness Royall of Blaisdon, whose husband Stuart Hercock died of prostate cancer aged 62 during the general election campaign, warned that too many GPs "were not vigilant enough and they don't recognise the symptoms".

Labour peer Lord Winston, a doctor noted for his television appearances, warned: "One of the problems with the PSA test is that there are a vast number of false positives which would mean that a number of people would get mutilating treatment or the risk of mutilating treatment."

In reply to Lord Lloyd-Webber, Health Minister Earl Howe said that last year the Department of Health had written to two primary care trusts "to remind them that any man without symptoms of prostate cancer who wishes to have a PSA test is entitled to have one".

But he added: "It is important that anyone availing of the test does so on a fully informed basis because the test is unreliable and can lead to unpleasant side effects."

Peers also asked the government questions on peerages for representatives from the nursing profession, the Independent Commission on Youth Crime and Antisocial Behaviour, and the EU.

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