The Prostate Cancer Risk Management programme (PCRMP) was introduced in 2002 to help general practitioners and practice nurses in advising men without symptoms of prostate cancer on the implications of having a public service agreement test.
The PCRMP empowers men to make an informed choice on whether or not to have a test based on their own lifestyles and values.
An evaluation of the PCRMP was funded by the Department to help inform the future direction of the programme and the PCRMP pack is currently being revised.
A consultation will be published in the spring, with the intention of launching the revised PCRMP packs in the summer of 2008. The revision will take full account of the results of the Prostate Cancer in Ethnic Subgroups study, which showed that black men are three times more likely to develop prostate cancer compared to white men, and the new National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence clinical guideline, “Prostate cancer: diagnosis and treatment”, which is due to be published in February 2008.