The Mobile PSA Testing Clinic is our most significant and important fundraising initiative since the Stokes Centre for Urology was opened in 2019.

Caught early, prostate cancer is usually curable. PSA blood tests are used to help detect prostate cancer.

Our van will reach high risk groups and communities as well as helping to address the shortfall of referrals for prostate cancer due to COVID restrictions.

The purchase and kit-out of the vehicle will require an investment of around £200,000, together with running costs of £100,000. Please help us if you can. Insert donate here button

In the UK, about 1 in 8 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime. Prostate cancer risk does increase with age, ethnicity (black men) and family history.

Working in partnership with the Surrey and Sussex Cancer Alliance, the NHS operated unit will provide a high-profile mobile point of access to allow more men to get the PSA blood test used to help detect prostate cancer, reaching high risk groups and communities as well as helping to address the shortfall of men remaining untested due to COVID restrictions.

Fully equipped to perform around 8,000 PSA tests per year, the unit will be fully self-contained with dedicated teams of drivers, NHS nurses and healthcare assistants. The van will be available out of regular hours, on Saturdays and even at pre-booked locations.

All men aged 50 to 70 in Surrey and Sussex catchment area will be offered the chance to visit the van for a simple PSA blood test, used to help detect prostate cancer.

Priority will go to those likely to be most at risk, such as black men (at greater risk because they have more genetic mutations that predispose them to the disease) or men who have a close family member who was also affected. In these groups, men over 45 will be targeted.

The Surrey and Sussex Cancer Alliance is working with more than 50 GP surgeries in the area to identify those who will be offered PSA testing.

‘We hope to save many men’s lives,’ says Prostate Project Trustee, Professor Stephen Langley, director of urology at the Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford, and clinical lead for the Surrey and Sussex Cancer Alliance.

‘The cure rate for prostate cancer that is detected early is high — up to 90 per cent.

‘But by the time it has spread to other parts of the body, a cure is normally not possible.

‘And we need to address the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, because in our region alone we have seen referrals for suspected prostate cancer drop to just 60 or 70 per cent of the normal rate, due to men not being able to see their doctors.

We know men are generally reticent to see their GP about a PSA test, and the situation has been exacerbated by Covid. By bringing the van and the test to men in their community, in a welcoming and non-threatening environment, we hope we will be able to detect prostate cancer early and help save more lives.

Please support us if you can and help us get the van on the road.