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Lung Health Check Programme

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in Wales, accounting for more deaths than breast and colorectal cancer combined. 

Evidence from randomised controlled trials shows that targeted screening of high-risk individuals with low-dose CT can improve outcomes.  The National Lung Screening Trial and NELSON are two large randomised controlled trials demonstrating a 20% or greater relative reduction in lung cancer mortality with low-dose CT screening in high-risk individuals.  Low-dose CT screening for lung cancer can be delivered as a “Lung Health Check”. 

In February 2019, the Cancer Implementation Group approved funding to conduct a scoping review exploring the potential for Lung Health Checks (LHCs) in Wales.  In September 2019, the Wales Cancer Network appointed a Clinical Lead (Dr Sinan Eccles, Consultant Respiratory Physician), Project Manager (Claire Wright) and Senior Project Support Officer (Roya Yadollahi) to lead the scoping review. The scoping report was completed in Autumn 2020 and made recommendations for the next steps for Wales, including:

  • Planning a small-scale implementation pilot in Wales
  • Ongoing learning from LHC projects elsewhere in the UK, together with assessment of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on LHC activity, and on lung cancer services in Wales
  • Monitoring the progress of the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) review with a view to implementation of a national LHC programme if a positive recommendation is made
  • Undertaking a project to assess, validate and improve smoking status data held at a number of GP practices, to inform the optimal strategy to identify people eligible for lung cancer screening.

Download the full scoping report.

The report and its recommendations were presented to the Cancer Implementation Group (CIG) in November 2020, which granted approval for the project team to develop a programme approach for a LHC pilot in Wales. It has since been agreed in principle to proceed with a LHC pilot with plans to commence in 2023. The final details of the location and parameters of the pilot are to be confirmed. Delivery of this is now being led by a dedicated Programme Manager, Chris Coslett, who started in post in April 2022.

In September 2022, the reformed UK National Screening Committee (NSC) made a positive recommendation for targeted lung cancer screening, recommending that the UK nations move towards implementation of targeted lung cancer screening with integrated smoking cessation service provision.  Lung cancer - UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) - GOV.UK (view-health-screening-recommendations.service.gov.uk). The Lung Health Check team is working with the relevant groups to progress this. 

If you would like any further information about the project, please contact the team: 
PHW.LungHealthCheck@wales.nhs.uk