Photo by Mike Collins, Trustee of The Prostate Project
Man Van from The Prostate Project
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Sending mobile health clinics, or ‘Man Vans’, into areas of high deprivation, and ethnic minority communities picked up more clinically significant prostate cancer than comparable studies when seeking GP help, leading experts have found.
The Man Van program was developed by The Institute of Cancer Research, London and the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust. It visited workplaces and community groups in London more at risk of prostate cancer, providing free health checks for men to boost early diagnosis of prostate cancer.
The nurse-led van was stationed in seven locations across London with ethnic minority communities, and higher levels of deprivation. The van was parked in locations including football clubs, community centres, andoutside supermarkets.
Between January and September last year, the initiative screened 2,321 men. Analysis of 615 men screened during the project pilot showed that 7.3% of black men had prostate cancer, compared to only 1.4% of white men.
Dr Masood Moghul, clinical research fellow at the Royal Marsden and the ICR, says the high number of black men that the vans reached, alongside the proportion of early detected prostate cancer shows the success of the targeted outreach. Speaking to City News, he said:
“If you are a man and you are from a more deprived background, you are more likely to have a worse outcome. That’s why we tried to identify those areas, and take the van as close to those areas as we could.”
The research, which was presented in the Houses of Parliament, also showed this approach could be up to 25% cheaper than a standard GP route. Making the ‘Man Vans’ nurse-led has avoided staffing costs, as well as making the booking system electronic, has helped contribute to the low costs.
However, Dr Moghul told City News that he has been “chasing feedback” from NHS England after sending the research “months ago”. He has still heard nothing.
Myself and the others [in the Man Van team] feel like it’s a bit of a shame to have it end in this way – if it could have continued and expanded, it would have been good.
Dr Masood Moghul, Man Van project lead
It comes after Olympic cycling champion Sir Chris Hoy, who has terminal cancer, called for men with a family history of the disease and those at high risk to see their GP early on for a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test.
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HeadlineMobile testing ‘Man Vans’ boost early diagnoses of prostate cancer
Short HeadlineMan Vans: Mobile testing boosts prostate cancer diagnoses
StandfirstMobile testing vans can diagnose prostate cancer in at-risk groups earlier and more affordably than GPs, according to new research.
Sending mobile health clinics, or ‘Man Vans’, into areas of high deprivation, and ethnic minority communities picked up more clinically significant prostate cancer than comparable studies when seeking GP help, leading experts have found.
The Man Van program was developed by The Institute of Cancer Research, London and the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust. It visited workplaces and community groups in London more at risk of prostate cancer, providing free health checks for men to boost early diagnosis of prostate cancer.
The nurse-led van was stationed in seven locations across London with ethnic minority communities, and higher levels of deprivation. The van was parked in locations including football clubs, community centres, andoutside supermarkets.
Between January and September last year, the initiative screened 2,321 men. Analysis of 615 men screened during the project pilot showed that 7.3% of black men had prostate cancer, compared to only 1.4% of white men.
Dr Masood Moghul, clinical research fellow at the Royal Marsden and the ICR, says the high number of black men that the vans reached, alongside the proportion of early detected prostate cancer shows the success of the targeted outreach. Speaking to City News, he said:
“If you are a man and you are from a more deprived background, you are more likely to have a worse outcome. That’s why we tried to identify those areas, and take the van as close to those areas as we could.”
The research, which was presented in the Houses of Parliament, also showed this approach could be up to 25% cheaper than a standard GP route. Making the ‘Man Vans’ nurse-led has avoided staffing costs, as well as making the booking system electronic, has helped contribute to the low costs.
However, Dr Moghul told City News that he has been “chasing feedback” from NHS England after sending the research “months ago”. He has still heard nothing.
Myself and the others [in the Man Van team] feel like it’s a bit of a shame to have it end in this way – if it could have continued and expanded, it would have been good.
Dr Masood Moghul, Man Van project lead
It comes after Olympic cycling champion Sir Chris Hoy, who has terminal cancer, called for men with a family history of the disease and those at high risk to see their GP early on for a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test.
