A mobile health bus will tour communities across Birmingham this summer, helping residents learn more about cancer symptoms and access vital checks closer to home.
The ‘cancer bus’ will start its tour during Cervical Screening Awareness Week (15–21 June), with a specialist mobile cervical screening unit joining it at selected stops, including its first visit.
The tour begins on Friday 19 June at the UKIM Sparkbrook Islamic Centre. Between 9.30am to 3.30pm, people will be able to speak directly with NHS staff and other health professionals, and also get free health checks, and, if eligible, take up cervical screening on the day.
Cervical screening is offered to women aged 25 to 64 every five years and plays a crucial role in preventing cancer. While it is not a test for cancer, it checks the health of cells in the cervix and can identify early changes before they develop into something more serious - giving people the chance to act early.
Information and advice on skin, bowel, breast, cervical, lung and other types of cancer will be available, with cancer experts from the NHS and partner organisations on hand.
The cancer bus tour and mobile cervical screening initiatives are being delivered through a partnership between NHS Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board (ICB), NHS Black Country ICB, and the West Midlands Cancer Alliance, with support from a range of local and national partners, including Healthwatch and MacMillan Cancer Support.
During the last leg of the cancer bus tour in the Black Country, staff carried out more than 250 health checks over five days, with a number of people referred to their GP after possible signs and symptoms of cancer were identified.
Over June and July, the cancer bus will visit communities across Birmingham and Solihull, bringing essential advice, support and screening directly to the people who need it most.
More information from NHS Birmingham and Solihull ICB