MEN will march along Bournemouth seafront in a few weeks to raise funds for equipment to help battle prostate cancer.

The Bournemouth Hospital Charity’s March for Men takes place, appropriately enough, in March, and will see men, women and children take part in 1k, 5k, or 10k walks or runs along the seafront and lower gardens to help buy an Olympus image management hub.

This imaging equipment, costing £12,000, will be used alongside the Royal Bournemouth Hospital’s da Vinci robot for complex major surgery to treat men with prostate cancer by taking live images directly from the robot and displaying them in 3D.

Consultants will use this footage when analysing patient treatment to identify techniques which have the most direct impact.

The equipment will also benefit patients who undergo kidney and colorectal surgical procedures in the future.

Consultant urological surgeon Kevin Turner said: “The new hub will be a fantastic resource for the urology department and will enable surgeons to better look at patient outcomes.

“By reviewing the operation videos we can see what aspects of the surgical technique might be responsible for a particular outcome. This means we can modify and improve our technique going forward.

“This equipment will also enable us to share videos with surgeons who have been mentoring us in advanced robotic surgery and allow us to be remotely mentored.

“This has obvious time and money benefits as we will be able to be mentored at the hospital instead of having to go abroad.”

Funds raised will also contribute to other men’s health projects.

Hundreds of people took part in the March for Men last year helping to fund the template biopsy machine, which has thus far benefited more than 100 men with prostate cancer.

More than 200 patients have benefitted from the da Vinci robot since it was purchased two years ago.

To register for the event on March 20 visit www.bournemouthhospitalcharity.org or call 01202 704060.