‘Significant breakthrough’: NHS hospitals adopt faster, more accurate bladder cancer test

NHS hospitals are using a new way of diagnosing bladder cancer that is faster, more accurate and more convenient for patients than the existing test. Doctors said the Galeas bladder test is a major breakthrough because it involves a urine test taken at home rather than an invasive procedure done at hospital which is uncomfortable for patients. Growing numbers of hospitals in England and Wales have switched to the test for a cancer that kills almost 6,000 people a year in the UK. Staff have found more people are being tested because it is a painless and convenient alternative to the standard method. Five hospitals have already adopted the test – University hospitals of Leicester recently became the first NHS trust in England to do so – and at least 16 others will follow suit by the end of the year. Testing for bladder cancer is traditionally done by a cystoscopy, which involves a tube and camera being inserted into the body through the penis or urethra to let doctors examine the bladder. The discomfort involved meant quite a few patients decided not to have the procedure. However, the Galeas bladder test is non-invasive and involves only a urine sample. It is a DNA-based test that uses the 23 genes most commonly associated with bladder cancer. An NHS trial, involving 964 patients at seven hospitals in England and Scotland in 2024-25, found that it correctly identified whether 92% of participants had bladder cancer or not. It is the 11th most common cancer in the UK. …