Bowel Research UK's Patient and Public Involvement Manager, Sam Alexandra Rose, is joined by Emma Tuschick and Karen Manton. Emma Tuschick is a doctoral candidate and research associate at Teesside University, while Karen Manton is an expert in bipolar disorder based on personal experience. They are part of a research team investigating the experiences, thoughts, and emotions of individuals with severe mental illness and learning disabilities regarding bowel, cervical, and breast cancer screening. They discuss the barriers and facilitators encountered by people with learning disabilities and mental illness in accessing cancer screening. Additionally, they present some promising research findings that could lead to significant changes and improvements in the medical field.

PErson Centred Cancer Screening Study website: Home - PECCS (northumbria.ac.uk)

PErson Centred Cancer Screening Study Twitter: @PeccsStudy

Information about cervical smear home testing kits Sam mentions in this episode.

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Music is “Summer Guitar” by Amaksi from Pixabay.

Bowel Research UK’s Patient and Public Involvement Manager Sam Alexandra Rose is joined by Nigel Horwood, a guest blogger at Bowel Research UK and a Crohn's disease patient. They discuss the importance of organising your medical records appropriately and establishing strong relationships with your medical experts. Additionally, Nigel gives some tips, suggestions and shares some of his experience to help improve quality of life and to self-advocate when it comes to our health.

Nigel's blog & book: https://www.wrestlingtheoctopus.com/

Nigel's Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/Crohnoid

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Music is “Summer Guitar” by Amaksi from Pixabay.

Bowel Research UK’s Patient and Public Involvement Manager Sam Alexandra Rose is joined by Simon Carding, Professor of Mucosal Immunology at the University of East Anglia and head of the Food Microbiome and Health Research programme at Quadram Institute in Norwich, along with Adele Sayers, a consulting colorectal surgeon at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals with an interest in IBD. In this episode, they discuss the gut microbiome, explaining what it is, the impacts it has on our entire body and how it is involved in IBD, the potential benefits we get from having a healthy gut microbiome, and how to keep it healthy.

More information from Quadram Institute:

Understanding the Microbiome - Quadram Institute

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Music is “Summer Guitar” by Amaksi from Pixabay.

In this episode of Can I Butt In, Bowel Research UK’s Patient and Public Involvement Manager Sam Alexandra Rose is joined by Matt Black and Steven Jones to discuss how workplace culture and environment can impact workers with illnesses and disabilities. Additionally, they discuss what arrangements can be made to improve communication and accommodate people with illnesses or disabilities. Matt had bowel cancer during the COVID lockdown and Steven Jones, founder of the Disability Connect mentoring scheme, is a wheelchair user with spinal muscular atrophy.

Disability Connect is a disability inclusion specialist and works with organisations in the private, public and third sector. They specialise in sharing lived disability experiences through our services including focus groups, reverse mentoring, insight talks, product reviews and more. Details can be found here:

- Website: https://disabilityconnect.org.uk/

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/disability-connect-mentoring-scheme/?viewAsMember=true

- Twitter: https://twitter.com/DCMS_Mentor

Contact Disability Connect via e-mail: [email protected]

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Music is “Summer Guitar” by Amaksi from Pixabay.

Bowel Research UK’s Patient and Public Involvement Manager Sam Alexandra Rose is joined by Eamonn Dunne, the Partnerships and Projects Development Manager for Thomas Pocklington Trust, a national charity supporting blind and partially sighted people. In this episode, they discuss the difficulties that people with visual impairments have when taking a FIT (Faecal Immunochemical Test), which can be essential for the early detection and diagnosis of bowel disease. Eamonn introduces a prototype, named FIT-aid, which could help people with visual impairments take a FIT with ease.

Thomas Pocklington Trust Website: https://www.pocklington-trust.org.uk/

Facebook: @ThomasPocklingtonTrust

Twitter: @TPTgeneral

LinkedIn: @pocklington-trust

Instagram: @thomas_pocklington_trust

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Music is “Summer Guitar” by Amaksi from Pixabay.

Bowel Research UK’s Patient and Public Involvement Manager Sam Alexandra Rose is joined by Sharon Applin and Charles West to discuss pelvic exenteration surgery and its impact on quality of life. Sharon had this surgery due to squamous cell cancer and Charles “Charlie” West is conducting research into the effects of this surgery known as empty pelvis syndrome.

Charlie's Twitter handle: @charliewest89

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Find out what's coming up on "Can I Butt In?", the podcast from Bowel Research UK. We welcome bowel cancer and bowel disease patients, researchers, healthcare professionals and carers to "butt in" and share their experiences on a range of topics.

Find out more about Bowel Research UK.

Music is “Summer Guitar” by Amaksi from Pixabay.