Going to see the doctor can be a daunting experience for Britain's travelling families.

People who live in a caravan with no bath or shower, whose clothes permanently smell of ingrained wood-smoke, and whose boots and trousers are more often than not covered in mud, don't always get the reception they want.

Now, in a pioneering pilot scheme aimed at solving these access and other problems, travelling families in Herefordshire are to get their own mobile health service.

The £1m project, which is being funded by the Department of Health, will bring health care to around 1,200 travellers in a scheme that will run for the next three years.

The project was put together after extensive research to pinpoint the exact needs of travellers. Initially, the mobile health team - a GP, lead nurse, health visitor and practice manager - will take the service to the families wherever they are in the county via a mobile health centre in a former bus. Longer-term plans are for the to have facilities for a surgery on a permanent site.

Karen Henson, lead nurse on the project, said months of research and planning have gone into the setting up of the scheme, including meeting with travellers.

"The sort of health problems that they have are what you would get at a general surgery. The problems may be more severe or they might be presenting with problems earlier, but what is vital is to make the service accessible," she said.

"Travellers don't present as your average member of the public. For many of them, going to see the doctor may be intimidating because they feel sensitive about being seen as being different, and they are sensitive to prejudice.

"One of the major aims of the project is really to encourage them to present for the services that we offer irrespective of whether or not they have mud on their boots, or if they haven't had a bath for some time. We want to make sure that when they come to see us they don't feel uncomfortable simply because of the way they choose to live their lives."

The project aims to meet the needs of both new and traditional travellers. According to the health professionals involved, the two groups are likely to have differing health needs and to take a different approach to accessing care. In the case of the traditional travellers, many of whom have led an itinerant lifestyle since birth, there may be problems with literacy that mean that health promotion campaigns are less effective than for the general population.

Many new travellers may have adopted the lifestyle as adults and are often drawn to alternative forms of medicine, although Ms Henson says it is important to avoid generalisations.

"The project will be needs-led, and at first the bus will be kitted out with basic equipment like a mini-health centre, but as we find out exactly what is needed then we can refine what we have to offer," said Ms Henson.

Travellers were involved in interviewing the workers on the project - and that is seen as an important move by the travellers. Many of the travellers believe the idea will help because the health professionals involved will have a special understanding of their nomadic lifestyle and culture.

"It was important because we were able to make sure that the people involved really understand what travelling is like. It can be a really stressful lifestyle when you get evicted and have to move on. There are problems, like getting the results of tests when you may be spending some time in Scotland then travelling to Wales and then maybe Herefordshire,'' said Lily Horseman, who has been a traveller for seven years.

"When a family take a sick child to a surgery they don't want to be harassed by being asked to take off their boots before going in and this has happened to people I know. With this project there is a kind of shorthand, the doctor or nurse already understands the lifestyle, you don't have to explain that your clothes smell of wood-smoke or that you may not have access to running water.

"I know that a lot of travellers will use this service instead of just waiting until things get really bad and then having to go to the local accident and emergency department because they feel so out of place at an ordinary surgery."