Former Scotland manager, Craig Brown, is encouraging men over 65 years who live in Ayrshire and Arran to attend their Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA) screening appointment.

AAA screening is the simplest and best way to find out if you have an aneurysm, and all Ayrshire and Arran men aged 65 years are being invited to attend an AAA screening appointment.

Craig Brown, ex Scotland Manager, is throwing his weight behind the plea for men aged 65 to come along to the short, pain-free appointment which could end up saving their life.

Mr Brown himself became unwell during the pandemic after suffering an abdominal aortic aneurysm and required life-saving surgery to repair the damaged blood vessel in his abdomen.

The last man to guide Scotland's men team to a World Cup said: "I didn’t know about the screening and I regret that. If I had known about AAA screening, things might have been different for me.

"When you're over 65 you can self-refer, and that's sometihing I would recommend to any man.

"If you've gone through what I've gone through, it was agony. Particularly the week or so after the operation.

"Very often there are absolutely no symptoms, so the only possibilty of finding the problem would be to have a scan.

To find out more about the AAA screening process visit NHS Inform, or contact your local NHS AAA screening office.