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

Five hospitals in England and Wales have switched to urine test, rather than invasive hospital procedure

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 was a major breakthrough because it involved a urine test taken at home rather than an invasive procedure done at hospital which was uncomfortable for patients.

Growing numbers of hospitals in England and Wales are switching 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.

In contrast, cystoscopy only had an 81% accuracy rate. That was because it was difficult to identify bladder cancers of differing shapes, shades and sizes with a manually-operated keyhole camera, said Jeff Bousfield, the chief executive of Nonacus, the biotech firm behind the Galeas bladder test. It hoped to improve the test’s 92% accuracy further as its NHS rollout continued, he added.

Patients are referred for bladder cancer testing when they have haematuria – blood in their urine .

“Cystoscopy is an invasive investigation to look at the inside of the bladder,” said Jayne Douglas-Moore, a consultant urological surgeon at the Leicester NHS trust. “The patient is given an anaesthetic gel but otherwise remains awake. While it only takes one to two minutes it is an intimate examination and can be embarrassing or cause discomfort. It is commonly declined.”

In contrast, the Galeas bladder test was better both for patients, who take it at home and post back their sample, and hospitals because it freed up their resources, said Douglas-Moore. The long-awaited non-invasive test was “a significant breakthrough” in diagnosing a cancer that affected more than 10,000 people a year, she added.

The “convincing” results of the trial persuaded the Leicester trust to adopt the test last month for patients in whom blood in the urine is identified using a urine dipstick.

“Of the results received so far patients have received their results in 16 days, which exceeds the NHS 28-day faster diagnosis standard [for cancer]. This is based on low numbers as we are only three weeks in but shows promise,” said Douglas-Moore.

Her trust’s early data shows that the Galeas bladder test may be 50% faster at diagnosing the disease than a cystoscopy.

The new test was developed by Prof Richard Bryan, a urologist turned academic who runs the University of Birmingham’s bladder cancer research centre, and his colleague Dr Doug Ward.

Tony Hickson, the chief business officer at Cancer Research UK, said it co-funded initial studies into the new test “because of its potential to dramatically improve how we detect bladder cancers, making the process kinder and quicker for patients”.

He added: “Studies are ongoing, but using this test could replace some of the unpleasant and invasive procedures patients currently experience when getting their symptoms checked out.

“The test could also catch cases earlier, as it can be done when someone first visits their GP, rather than having to arrange a separate hospital appointment. Innovations like this are critical for improving how we diagnose cancer cases.”

Prof Frankie Swords, NHS England’s national medical director, said: “The NHS has a long history of adopting innovations to improve patient care, and this is another great example of NHS healthcare professionals taking the initiative and trialling new technologies to help to diagnose and treat cancer earlier.”