Mobile clinic to offer prostate cancer screening

The Prostate Project will take the van round the county and parts of Hampshire

A mobile clinic which will allow men to get blood tests to help with the early detection of prostate cancer is to be deployed in Surrey.

The "Man Van" vehicle has been bought and equipped by the Prostate Project following a £200,000 fundraising campaign.

Singers Van Morrison, Kiki Dee and Paul Jones helped raise funds for the van.

Stephen Langley, professor of urology at the Royal Surrey County Hospital, said: “The Man Van is a fantastic new facility that we have to enable men to get their prostate specific antigen, or PSA, checked."

The disease kills 12,000 men a year but it can be treated if caught early.

Prof Langley said: "PSA is the blood test that can determine whether you may have an early prostate cancer way before any symptoms develop.”

Prof Stephen Langley said a blood test is key to detecting early prostate cancer

He said there are no symptoms to detect early prostate cancer so the only way to spot it is through a blood test.

If a blood test is abnormal, patients would have an MRI scan.

“I think the van will raise the awareness of prostate cancer," he said.

“Men with a family history, black ethnicity or between 50 and 70 really want to take this seriously and find out whether they may want to get a PSA check.”

Mike Collins, from the Prostate Project, will take the van round the county and parts of Hampshire.

He said some men might think they would have to face an intrusive test, rather than a simple blood test.

The test is fast and results can be turned round quickly, he said.

It also means men do not have to book an appointment with their GP surgery, he said.

People can book a PSA test through the Prostate Project.

The Man Van will be at Guildford Farmers’ Market on 3 September to talk to men about the test and will take to the road after that.

What is prostate cancer?

Part of the male reproductive system, the prostate gland, about the size of a walnut, is in the pelvis, below the bladder. It surrounds the urethra - the tube that takes urine out of the body through the penis

Prostate cancer usually develops slowly - there may be no signs or symptoms for years and some never develop any problems from it. But in others, the cancer can be aggressive and deadly.

Symptoms can include urinating more frequently, weak flow when urinating and having to wait for urine to flow.

More than one in three men over 50 will have some symptoms of prostate enlargement.