NHS raises cancer awareness with Notts bus tour

The NHS Cancer Awareness Bus Tour is visiting communities across Nottinghamshire in October, offering free cancer symptom advice, information about NHS cancer screening programmes, healthy lifestyle support and mini health checks.

Led by the East Midlands Cancer Alliance in collaboration with Nottingham City Council, Nottinghamshire County Council and NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board (ICB), the tour has been developed in line with the National Cancer Plan.

The East Midlands continues to face challenges in achieving earlier cancer diagnoses, with 55.4% of cancers diagnosed at an early stage as of April 2026, compared with the national average of 59.2%. While Nottingham and Nottinghamshire perform better, with an early diagnosis rate of 60.9%, it remains well below the national ambition of 75%.

Victoria Millward, EMCA Managing Director, said: “Reducing health inequalities and diagnosing more cancers at an earlier stage are key priorities for us at the East Midlands Cancer Alliance. We know that not everyone has equal access to health information and support, which is why taking cancer awareness directly into our local communities is so important.

"The Cancer Awareness Bus Tour will help us reach people in places that are familiar and accessible to them, providing trusted information about cancer symptoms, screening and the support available.

"By working alongside our local partners, we want to give people the knowledge and confidence to take positive action for their health – helping more people come forward sooner and, ultimately, supporting more cancers to be diagnosed earlier, when treatment is more likely to be successful.”

The tour has been designed to respond directly to these local needs by bringing a range of health and wellbeing support services into the heart of the community. With no appointment needed, visitors will be able to access smoking cessation advice, receive support to use the NHS App, and speak to screening ambassadors who can help them access potentially life-saving screening appointments they may have missed.

This includes staff from the local breast screening service and social prescribers from local Primary Care Networks (PCNs), who can provide advice on making positive lifestyle changes that may help reduce cancer risk.

Visitors can also have a free mini-health check with Thriving Nottingham who will check blood pressure, BMI and provide healthy lifestyle advice.

To ensure support is accessible to as many people as possible, information materials will also be available in easy read and the most spoken languages in the area, including English, Polish, Urdu, Arabic and Punjabi.

The local stops are Tuesday 6th October (9am-4pm): Bulwell Riverside, 108 Coventry Road, Bulwell, Wednesday 7th October (9am-4pm): Tesco Mansfield, Chesterfield Road, Mansfield, Thursday 8th October (9am-12noon): Victoria Retail Park, Memorial Avenue, Worksop, and Thursday 8th October (1pm-4pm): Manton Family Hub, Community Way, off Shrewsbury Road, Manton.