The side of a truck with the words the Manchester Lung Health Check

Past and current smokers in Leigh aged between 55–74 years old are being invited to have an NHS Lung Health Check in a drive to save more lives.

A mobile health clinic has been stationed at Tesco in Hindley since mid-November where more than 3102 people have benefitted from a Lung Health Check.

Now the service will be available at Tesco Extra in Leigh from Monday 22 January.

Lung Health Checks are now available in Leigh for people aged 55-74 who are smokers or previous smokers.

A scanner and clinic will be housed in a mobile unit at the store’s car park at The Loom, Derby Street. It will operate 6 days a week (Monday to Saturday) from 8am to 8pm to ensure that appointments are accessible to everyone who’s invited.

GP letters will be sent out to smokers and former smokers aged 55-74 years in the Leigh primary care network.

The new checks are the latest phase of the Greater Manchester Targeted Lung Health Check Programme – a drive to help improve earlier diagnosis of lung cancer and save more lives. The programme is jointly organised by the Greater Manchester Cancer Alliance and Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust.

Greater Manchester has one of the highest mortality rates for lung cancer in England. The Lung Health Checks have already been operating in some parts of Greater Manchester – including North Manchester, Salford and Tameside. There are further plans to expand the programme in the coming years to ensure that all eligible participants are invited.

Patients who are invited for a lung health check will firstly talk to specialist nurse where they will answer some health and lifestyle questions which will determine whether they are ‘high’ or ‘low’ risk. If deemed high risk, they will be offered a low-dose computed tomography (CT) scan of their lungs for further investigation on the same day and be enrolled into the programme.

Most visitors to the Lung Health Checks will get reassurance that everything is OK or be referred to get help to stop smoking.

So far 450 patients have been diagnosed with lung cancer as a result of the Lung Health Checks in Greater Manchester, however, almost 80% of these patients were diagnosed at stage 1 or 2 meaning they were more likely to be eligible for curative treatment.

People diagnosed with lung cancer at the earliest stage are nearly 20 times more likely to survive for five years than those whose cancer is caught late.

Dr Gen Wong, Clinical Director for the Leigh Primary Care Network and a Leigh GP based at Old Henry Street Medical Centre in Leigh, said: “The survival rate for lung cancer significantly increases if it’s caught in the early stages and through our approach to these targeted lung health checks will be contacting residents most at risk. I’d encourage all patients who are contacted by their doctors’ surgery and offered a Lung Health Check to take up the opportunity.”

Dr Liam Hosie, a Wigan borough GP, said: “If you are a past or current smoker, it is very important to take up your invitation for a lung health check when your GP contacts you. It really can help to save lives.”

Lung cancer can often be caught too late as there are rarely symptoms at the earlier stages. The programme is designed to check those most at risk of developing lung cancer in order to spot signs earlier, at the stage when it’s much more treatable and ultimately saving more lives.

Professor Richard Booton, Clinical Lead for Lung Cancer at Wythenshawe Hospital part of MFT and Programme Director for the Greater Manchester Targeted Lung Health Check programme, said: “The targeted Lung Health Check programme is revolutionary for finding cancers earlier. By bringing the scanner directly into the community – like we are doing in Leigh – the scheme can directly contact those at most risk and intervene when the cancer is at its most treatable.”

Alison Jones, Director of Cancer Commissioning and Early Diagnosis at Greater Manchester Cancer Alliance, said: “So many people have already benefitted from having a targeted lung health check and we look forward to expanding this service to Leigh so that more people can benefit. We want to find cancer at the earliest stages when chances of successful treatment are more likely.”

The Department for Health and Social Care has predicted that rolling out screening to high-risk 55 to 74 year olds will save lives by detecting up to 9,000 lung cancers a year at an early stage across England.

  • Patients will be contacted about a Lung Health Check by letter by their GP.
  • For more information on the Targeted Lung Health Check programme please visit www.mft.nnhs.uk/lunghealthcheck
  • If you have concerning symptoms, please speak to their GP who will be able to refer you for tests if needed.
  • Read about symptoms of lung cancer.