I'll probably get cancelled for saying this, but as someone trained in clinical biochemistry who understands screening criteria and harms from unnecessary tests...
...I think we are in a new era of medicine where people want blood tests, want to understand their health and want to preserve their health more than ever.
In every other aspect of our life more data = good, but we tell people that for health less data = good
Really intelligent people don't understand this nor can they weigh up the evidence for harms and all that happens is that people that can afford it, go private driving health inequalities
Screening for prostate cancer is a classic example: by the book, it doesn't meet criteria for screening but ask a GP or a private doctor how often they check a PSA in men?? It is incredibly commonly checked. The men missing out are the ones who don't seek medical attention.
Last night @CalvinBailey, @HelenMorganMP and I delivered a cross-party letter signed by over 120 MPs to @wesstreeting calling for targeted prostate cancer screening for high-risk men.
No man should die from this disease because of his postcode, ethnicity or ability to see a GP.
Whatever you do, please don't stop reading. Read for joy. Read for education. Read for resistance. Read books. Read about experiences that differ from your own. Just. Keep. Reading.