Trials have shown that testing for blood in faeces can detect colorectal cancers.Prostate cancer screening: The Department of Health has decided not to screen for prostate cancer. This can be done by rectal examination and testing blood for prostate specific antigen (PSA). At Marie Stopes clinics a Well Man Plus screen, which includes a PSA test, costs pounds 75 but it should be possible to find a private doctor to do this for about pounds 20 to pounds 30.. Women with a close family history of ovarian cancer may be offered blood tests and ultrasound scans annually.Bowel cancer screening: Moves are afoot to introduce screening. BUPA charges pounds 85 for a breast screen, which includes a mammogram.Genetic testing: Researchers have discovered two genes linked to breast and ovarian cancer. The NHS is still evaluating the benefits of a genetic test, but this is being offered in a few centres to some high-risk women.Screening for ovarian cancer: GPs can refer high risk women to a cancer specialist or clinic which can provide counselling, and assess their degree of risk and need for screening. Some experts also feel that screening every three years allows too long an interval.

Older women may request screening and it is argued that the recall system should be extended to include them. A private Well Woman check at Marie Stopes, including a smear test, costs pounds 57.
Breast screening: Women aged between 50 and 64 are invited for mammograms at three-yearly intervals. Cervical screening: Some experts think women should start having cervical smear tests within a year of becoming sexually active, and, ideally, every year after that. On the NHS, women aged 20-64 are invited to attend for screening and recalled every three to five years Older women can be screened on request.

At present, only screening for cervical cancer and breast cancer is generally available on the NHS, and then only for certain age-groups Lee Rodwell outlines what is currently on offer. Prevention is better than cure – and prevention is better than screening Screening is what you do when you can’t prevent disease.”. However, it does pick up 95 per cent of cancer in women over the age of 50 and the Campaign strongly advises all women in this age-group to attend for screening.”For the future, we would anticipate far more sensitive screening tools, a simple blood test for instance, which would indicate a potential problem long before a lump was detectable.”But while screening may help to reduce the number of deaths from cancer, it has no impact on the numbers of people getting cancer in the first place.Dr Szarewski says: “If we ever find a vaccine against cervical cancer we will simply vaccinate all teenage girls. Screening can improve the prognosis for many women who are found to have cancer. In addition, treatments for early-stage cancers are less radical: a woman is less likely to lose a breast. But there are those who say screening also leads to over-diagnosis of questionable abnormalities, and point out that there is, in any case, much debate about the best way to treat breast cancer.Many multi-centred trials are under way to test the best combination of treatments for breast cancer.Kate Law, head of clinical programmes at the Cancer Research Campaign says: “Mammography, as with all screening tools, is not perfect. If she is screened annually, the risk is reduced to 93 per cent.