UK Health Market Round-Up: NHS Trials Cancer Blood Tests in 200 GP Practices

Cancer blood tests go on trial in 200 GP practices

The University of Birmingham announced STRIDE-RCT on 4 November. It will run in at least 200 GP practices in England and include more than 20,000 NHS patients, with up to £8.49 million from the Office for Life Sciences through the National Institute for Health and Care Research.

Patients aged 45 and over who see their GP with abdominal symptoms, such as persistent bloating or discomfort, will be offered a place. One or two extra tubes of blood are taken alongside routine tests. The tests look for signs of several cancers in one sample, including bowel, stomach, pancreatic, liver, ovarian, kidney, bladder and prostate cancer, and suggest where in the body a cancer may be. Half the practices will offer the tests alongside usual care and half will provide usual care alone.

Co-chief investigator Professor Aneel Bhangu said the tests might help GPs separate cancer from more common causes of these symptoms, but the evidence has to be certain before they are used across the NHS. Around 71,000 people in England are diagnosed with pancreatic, stomach, liver, ovarian or bowel cancer each year.

One in six people on weight-loss medicine avoided their local pharmacy to keep it private

LloydsPharmacy Online Doctor surveyed 2,000 UK adults who were taking, considering or had taken weight management treatment, reported by Chemist+Druggist on 4 November. 16% had skipped collecting their medicine from a local pharmacy to hide their use, and 14% had it sent to a different address. 83% said weight-loss drugs carry stigma, and 56% said that stigma affected how they used or accessed treatment.

15% said embarrassment had delayed them seeking clinical help. Half kept their treatment hidden from most of their loved ones, and a quarter admitted lying about how they lost weight. The survey was run by a company that sells these treatments online, so treat the figures as one provider's snapshot.

Men with the lowest testosterone had an 18% higher risk of dying from cancer

A study in The Lancet Healthy Longevity, led by Professor Bu Yeap at the University of Western Australia, pooled data on more than 26,000 men from 11 long-running studies in Australia, the United States and Europe. Men in the lowest fifth of testosterone levels had an 18% higher risk of dying from cancer than those in the highest fifth, after adjusting for age and other health factors. The risk began to rise below about 8.6 nmol/L.

Testosterone level was not linked to prostate cancer risk. Lower levels of two other hormones, sex hormone-binding globulin and luteinising hormone, were. The study shows an association only, and the authors say there is no evidence yet that taking testosterone lowers cancer risk.

The legal framework for NHS pharmacist prescribing is now in force

An NHS update on 6 November said the legal directions for community pharmacy prescribing have been enacted and that Drug Tariff Parts VIC and VIF have been updated. Pharmacies that prescribe must follow updated specifications for Pharmacy First, which now includes prescribing pathways, and for the Pharmacy Contraception Service.

Pharmacies cannot start straight away. Each one has to submit a declaration to the NHS Business Services Authority, get approval from its integrated care board and link its designated prescribing pharmacists before it can prescribe. NHS England is holding a webinar for pharmacy owners on 9 November.