Born in Bradford (BiB), one of the UK’s largest studies which looks into the health of children and involves over 12,500 families is taking to the road once more.
The Big BiB Bus, which is currently at Ashwell Medical Centre in BD8, will be moving to the Inspire Bradford Business Park in Eccleshill for the next few months.
The state-of-the-art research bus is part of the ‘Growing Up’ study which is a large scale follow up of all the Born in Bradford families, and is funded by the Medical Research Council and the Economic and Social Research Council.
On board, families can get weighed and measured as well as having a DEXA scan, which looks at bone density and body composition.
BiB Director, Dr Rosie McEachan said: “We are delighted to be working with the Newlands Community Association (Trading) Ltd, who own and manage the Inspire Bradford Business Park and who are hosting the Big BiB Bus for our 2018 spring recruitment drive.
“With excellent transport links, we hope this fantastic new location will be convenient for BiB families who live in the surrounding area. Over the next few months we hope to see hundreds of BiB families jump aboard our state-of-the-art research bus from our new base in Eccleshill.”
The Big BiB Bus allows families to visit a research clinic without having to travel too far from home. So far 900 families have visited the bus in its two previous locations of Ashwell Medical Centre and St Luke’s Hospital – part of Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust – including 1052 children, 900 mums and 198 partners, and BiB is hoping to attract even more visitors in its new location.
Chief Officer of Newlands Community Association Trading Ltd, Susan Hodgson said: “We are delighted to be able to host the BiB Bus. We believe it is an excellent opportunity to bring a very important research programme near to where people live.
“We are really looking forward to working with the research team and seeing local families take up this opportunity to be involved in this large scale study of Bradford children’s health.”
The bus’ new location will be officially launched for local GPs and other health and community staff, at a special lunch, hosted by Newlands Community Association on Friday, 23 March at 12.30pm. This will give staff who work in the area a chance to see the research bus and to meet the Born in Bradford team.
If parents wish to get involved in the ‘Growing Up’ study, please contact the Born in Bradford office on 01274 364474 or email borninbradford@bthft.nhs.uk
