Case Study: Early Prostate Cancer Screening with Prostate Cancer UK

Tom Cronin
Jun 19
2 min read

When Sir Chris Hoy, the six-time Olympic cycling champion, publicly revealed his diagnosis of late-stage prostate cancer, the news served as a wake-up call for many. His story cast a stark light on a pervasive challenge in men's health: prostate cancer often develops without symptoms until it reaches an advanced stage. In the UK, 1 in 8 men will be affected by this disease, making proactive screening critical — and yet, too many at-risk individuals remain undiagnosed until it’s too late.

The Challenge: Reaching Men Before It's Too Late

One of the greatest hurdles in prostate cancer care is not medical — it’s logistical. Identifying and engaging the right individuals, particularly men from higher-risk groups, is complex and resource-intensive. Traditional outreach methods struggle to scale, and many communities remain underserved. And so, early prostate cancer screening is very important for effective proactive care delivery.

The Opportunity: Early Prostate Cancer Screening with Automated Recall

Last year, Prostate Cancer UK partnered with Hippo Labs to address this pressing issue. The goal was simple but ambitious: to find and invite eligible men for PSA blood testing in a fast, targeted, and low-burden way.

Enter Hippo Recaller — Hippo Labs’ intelligent patient engagement platform. Recaller empowers healthcare providers to instantly identify patients based on custom clinical criteria and automatically send personalized messages at scale. For this pilot, the platform was configured to target men in higher-risk cohorts who had not yet undergone prostate screening.

The Pilot: Smart Outreach with Real-World Impact

The pilot launched in May 2024 at a single GP practice for a targeted PSA screening campaign. Over the course of a few weeks, around 700 tailored messages were sent out via Hippo Recaller, inviting men to book a simple PSA blood test. Messages were drip-fed daily — a deliberate strategy to avoid overwhelming local clinical teams while maintaining momentum.

Despite the program being cut short due to the Synlab cyber attack, the results were powerful:

71 men responded by getting tested.
7 new cases of prostate cancer were diagnosed.
The practice saw its prostate cancer detection rate triple — all without placing additional strain on staff or infrastructure.

The Broader Context: A Turning Point for Screening

Historically, concerns around over-testing and unnecessary procedures have dampened enthusiasm for widespread screening. But advances in imaging technology, including MRI-led diagnostics, have significantly reduced the risks and costs associated with false positives. The bottleneck now lies in awareness and action — encouraging more men to engage with these safer, more accurate tools.

That’s where Hippo Recaller shines: by systematically and sustainably reaching those who might otherwise slip through the cracks, it bridges the final mile in the healthcare pathway.

What’s Next

While the pilot was paused due to external events, its early success demonstrates the enormous potential of combining clinical insight with digital precision. Hippo Labs is actively exploring further deployments in collaboration with national partners to scale this impact across the UK.

“No man should receive a diagnosis as late as Sir Chris. With the right tools and outreach, we can change the story of prostate cancer — one message at a time.”

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