Published on 4 August 2026
Men across Cheshire and Merseyside who have had or are living with prostate cancer are being encouraged to take part in a major NHS-supported research programme aimed at improving diagnosis, treatment and care for future patients.
The NHS is now beginning to contact half a million men nationally, including eligible men in Cheshire and Merseyside, inviting them to join Prostate Progress — a research programme designed to build one of the world’s largest resources for prostate cancer research.
Prostate Progress is led by the charity Prostate Cancer Research and supported by the NHS’s DigiTrials recruitment service. It aims to improve how prostate cancer is diagnosed and treated, understand the side effects of treatment, and learn more about the impact of the disease on men’s quality of life.
The programme is particularly keen to hear from Black men, who are at approximately twice the risk of developing prostate cancer. Improving representation in research will help researchers better understand and address differences in diagnosis, treatment and outcomes.
Men who join Prostate Progress will be asked to complete short questionnaires about their experiences of living with prostate cancer every few months. They will also be asked to agree for their NHS records to be securely linked and used for approved research purposes.
By combining men’s own experiences with information from NHS records, researchers will be able to build a clearer picture of prostate cancer, develop better tests and treatments, monitor the safety of treatments, and plan future NHS services.
Prostate cancer is now the most common cancer in the UK, with around 60,000 new cases diagnosed every year and more than 12,000 deaths annually.
Jon Hayes, Managing Director of Cheshire and Merseyside Cancer Alliance, said: “This is an important opportunity for men in Cheshire and Merseyside to play a part in improving prostate cancer care for future generations.
“Research like Prostate Progress helps us understand more about people’s real experiences of cancer, including how diagnosis and treatment affect day-to-day life. The more men who take part, the better researchers can understand what works well, where improvements are needed and how care can be made more personalised.
“We are particularly keen to see strong participation from communities that are under-represented in research, including Black men, who face a higher risk of prostate cancer. Taking part is a simple but powerful way to help shape better outcomes for men locally and nationally.”
Oliver Kemp, CEO of Prostate Cancer Research, said: “Half a million men is a huge number, but every one of them has a unique story that could help save another man’s life. An NHS record can tell us which scans and treatments a man received but only he can tell us what living through prostate cancer was really like.”