What action it is taking to increase awareness and treatment of prostate cancer.

The Scottish Government is undertaking a range of actions that aim to increase awareness and treatment of prostate cancer.
The Scottish Government’s Detect Cancer Early initiative, which was launched in February 2012 with £30 million of investment, focuses on raising public awareness and encouraging people with early symptoms of cancer to see their GP. It is an ambitious programme of work and aims to increase the number of people who are diagnosed at an earlier stage. Although this campaign initially focuses on the three most prevalent cancers in Scotland
- breast, bowel and lung
- it is expected to raise awareness of all cancers and increase the number of people diagnosed at an early stage.
The revised Scottish Referral Guidelines for Suspected Cancer were published in October 2013 and updated May 2014. This version updates referral guidelines for prostate cancer, and takes account of new research evidence and the findings of audits undertaken since the last revision. The aim of these updated guidelines is to facilitate appropriate referral between primary and secondary care for patients whom a GP suspects may have cancer. The guidelines should help GPs, the wider primary care team, other clinicians and patients and carers to identify those patients who are most likely to have cancer and who therefore require urgent assessment by a specialist. Work is also being undertaken to support the effective dissemination and implementation of the revised guidelines when they are published by August 2014.
The Quality Performance Indicators programme also aims to drive up the standard of cancer services available in NHS Scotland. This programme contains specific indicators for prostate cancer. These indicators will be used to monitor and drive quality improvement in prostate cancer care across the NHS in Scotland and ensure that people have access to timely, safe and effective services.
The Scottish Government also recognises the importance of research. Earlier this year, the Scottish Government, Prostate Cancer UK, and The Movember Foundation granted researchers at Dundee University £500,000 to investigate unanswered questions surrounding prostate cancer (£275,000 from Prostate Cancer UK and Movember, £225,000 from the Scottish Government’s Chief Scientists Office). The money will be used to fund clinical research that is being carried out in patients for the first time. The researchers will be investigating ways to improve the diagnosis of aggressive prostate cancer and reduce the number of unnecessary biopsies, one of Prostate Cancer UK’s priority areas for research funding.