A PROSTATE cancer survivor has reiterated his call for proton beam therapy to be offered as standard on the NHS.

It comes after new figures released yesterday revealed the disease has overtaken breast cancer to become the third biggest cancer killer in the UK.

Figures released by Prostate Cancer UK showed the number of men dying from the disease is now 11,819 every year in the UK – the equivalent of one man every 45 minutes.

Duncan Gregory, an engineer from West Hendred, near Wantage, was given the devastating diagnosis just days before Christmas 2016.

He was advised to either have the tumour surgically removed or have radiotherapy – both of which have the potential to cause impotence and incontinence.

Instead he paid £34,000 for proton beam therapy treatment in Prague in December and has since been given the all-clear.

Speaking yesterday he said: "The NHS should be looking at it as a default option.

"The main thing is the lack of side-effects.

"I would like to think these figures would act as a catalyst for change.

"I went over to Prague with several other English people and they are all now in the same boat as me with no side-effects."

The treatment , which uses a high-energy beam of protons, rather than X-rays, to deliver radiotherapy for patients, is currently paid for by the NHS since 2008 but only on a case by case basis.