BLOKES can get checked for prostate cancer in a “Man Van” touring building sites and GP car parks.
The mobile screening unit hopes to boost diagnosis in fellas who avoid the doctor.
AlamyThe van will now visit 4,000 men across London and may eventually roll out nationally[/caption]
In a pilot scheme, 14 chaps out of 600 — one in 40 — were diagnosed with the disease that might not have been otherwise.
The van will now visit 4,000 men across London and may eventually roll out nationally.
Olukayode Dada, 60, who was diagnosed during the van’s test run, said: “If it hadn’t been for the van, I wouldn’t have known I have cancer. I had no symptoms whatsoever.”
The van also checks for other cancers, diabetes and high blood pressure.
More than 52,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer in the UK each year and there are more than 12,000 deaths.
The disease is very treatable if caught early, but Prostate Cancer UK says up to one in three men are diagnosed too late.
Professor Nick James, from the team who devised the “Man Van” for the Royal Marsden NHS Trust, said: “Early detection of cancer can transform survival rates and boost people’s chances of being cured.”