Award-winning Black Country nurse joins celebs in calls for prostate screening
An award-winning Black Country Urology Nurse has addressed a host of celebrities and MPs at Parliament in calling for the NHS to make prostate cancer screening available for all at-risk men.
Watch more of our videos on ShotsTV.com
and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565
Kelly Kusinski, Urology Advanced Nurse Practitioner at The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust and Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust, spoke with David Walliams, Gary Lineker, Frank Lampard, James Corden and film director Sir Steve McQueen at the Proactive for your Prostate awareness event at the House of Commons.
Hosted by Foreign Secretary David Lammy, former Home Secretary James Cleverly and MP Josh Babarinde, the event launched a report on the benefits of prostate cancer screening for the vulnerable groups.
Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Wes Streeting and former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also attended the reception to raise awareness.
Currently, men have to ask for a PSA blood test, which helps check for a condition highlighted by Sir Chris Hoy’s terminal diagnosis.
Men over 50, black men of 45-plus and those with a family history of prostate or breast cancer aged 45-70 are at risk.
A decision on introducing the programme is expected from the UK National Screening Committee this month or early next year.
A Nursing Times Winner in its Cancer Nursing category for teamwork on the rapid diagnostic pathway for prostate cancer, Ms Kusinski has worked with Prostate Cancer Research, which organised the event and a petition that attracted more than 138,000 signatures calling for the change.
She said: “Wes Streeting has pledged to finance a government report into PSA screening and he wants it completed by February.
“All MPs who spoke were very supportive of it and for the Health Secretary to be backing it is a very positive move.
“I see men come to clinic too late, which doesn’t need to happen. Prostate Cancer UK and Prostate Cancer Research say black men might have to go back to their GP two, three or four times to get tested; they don’t feel listened to as much.
“I collect the figures for Wolverhampton and the diagnosis for prostate cancer is one in four for black men and one in eight for white men.
“There’s also a cost benefit to the country by introducing PSA testing. Let’s hope the message gets through that early testing can save lives.”
Doreen Black, Head of Nursing at RWT, said: “This was such an exciting opportunity for Kelly to share her extensive knowledge, and how the Urology Department at RWT advocates for men with prostate cancer."
