Health advice about the dangers of testicular cancer is putting those in real need of treatment on longer waiting lists.

Guidance on self-examination has resulted in stampedes to GP surgeries and bumper referrals for hospital ultrasounds, it has been revealed.

According to Laindon GP Dr Keith Hopcroft the mass of well-intentioned advice is turning south Essex males into "ball-watching neurotics" putting the lives of those with the treatable condition at risk.

A spokesman for Basildon Hospital confirmed there had been a 40 per cent increase in the number of ultrasound scans for testicular cancer in the last three weeks. That means five a day rather than five a week are carried out.

However, Dr Hopcroft denies testicular cancer is a "silent killer". The GP, who practices at the Laindon Health Centre, said it virtually always makes its presence felt by aches, swelling or some feeling of discomfort.

The real issue is how the man acts on those symptoms.

Dr Hopcroft, who co-wrote A Bloke's Diagnose It Yourself Guide to Health with colleague Dr Alistair Moulds, said: "There is a lot of rubbish being talked about men's health.

"This move to encourage men to self-examine in a ritual kind of way is wrong as the chances of finding something by examining yourself regularly are unbelievably small.

"Testicular cancer is very rare. The average 15 to 50-year-old bloke has a one in 20,000 chance each year of getting it."

He said GPs see one new case every 15 years, yet the impression being given was that it happens all the time.

In Men's Health Week this week, he urged men to forget about examining themselves.

He said: "Men are examining themselves and finding normal bits of anatomy which are harmless but, as they have never checked before, are causing enormous worry.

"There has been a massive panic and it is hard to reassure them."

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.