Lung Cancer Screening

Lung Cancer Screening (formerly known as Targeted Lung Health Checks) is a screening programme for people aged between 55 and 74 who have ever smoked.

They are currently offered in parts of England where there is a high incidence of smoking and lung cancer but will roll out to the whole of the country by 2029.

In Cheshire and Merseyside, they are being offered in Wirral, Warrington, Liverpool, Halton, Knowsley, St Helens and South Sefton. They will roll out to north Sefton and the rest of Cheshire in 2026.

You can watch a video which explains what they are - with BSL - here.

In June, 2023, the Government announced that Lung Cancer Screening was now a national screening programme, which will roll out to cover the whole of the country over the next several years. You can read this announcement here.

For more information about the programme, for health workers, participants and the public, click here and also see the following sections:

Lung Cancer Screening (formerly known as Targeted Lung Health Checks) began in 2016 and is working with communities across Wirral, Warrington, Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, South Sefton and St Helens. People who are eligible will be given an appointment for a check-up. It is a great opportunity to give your lungs an MoT so that we are able to help diagnose lung conditions earlier, including cancer when it is more effective to treat.

Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital is the Lead Provider for the programme, working in collaboration with local NHS teams.

Cheshire and Merseyside Cancer Alliance co-ordinated the screening in South Sefton and St Helens, which began in autumn 2022 and ended in early 2024 and continues to organise them in Wirral and Warrington where they are running in in 2025.

The checks are due to begin in north Sefton in late 2025 and in the rest of Cheshire in 2026.

The programme is was one of the first projects to be launched under the NHS Long Term Plan.

The NHS Long Term Plan, published in January 2019, set out a wide range of ambitions for the NHS to achieve over the following 10 years.

A number of these ambitions centre on improving cancer survival through earlier diagnosis, with the Plan committing to increase the proportion of cancers diagnosed early from half to three-quarters by 2028.

This increase would mean 55,000 more people each year surviving for at least five years after diagnosis.

The NHS recognises that lung cancer is an area where early diagnosis is desperately needed to help improve survival and NHS Lung Cancer Screening is, therefore, taking place in areas with some of the highest rates of lung cancer deaths in England.

As well as helping to diagnose lung cancer at an early stage, Lung Cancer Screening also helps to identify other lung conditions.

The Government announced in June, 2023, that this check was now a national screening programme which would cover the whole of England over the next few years.

Lung cancer is often diagnosed at a late stage because symptoms are not always apparent until the disease is advanced, or because people are too worried about being diagnosed with lung cancer to seek help.

NHS Lung Cancer Screening helps to detect early-stage lung cancers, often before people have any symptoms and at a point when treatment is simpler and more successful. This is done by identifying those people most at risk of developing lung cancer and offering them a CT scan. The CT scan can help identify early changes.

A recent study (NELSON Lung Cancer Trial) showed that scanning people at higher risk of developing lung cancer reduced mortality (death) from the disease by 26% in men and between 39% and 61% in women.

It is expected that the detection of lung cancers through the Lung Cancer Screening programme, many of which will be at an early stage, will mean that thousands of lives are saved.

People aged 55 to 74 years old who have a history of smoking are given a lung health check appointment over the phone.

You will be given an appointment by text message or letter for your free NHS Lung Cancer Screening. If you receive an appointment, which is sent jointly by Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital and your GP practice, please follow the instructions.

Please do not ignore it.

At this appointment, patients may be offered a Chest CT Scan at a mobile scanning unit near to where they live for further investigations, if required.

It is important that people's smoking status is recorded correctly on their GP practice record so that they receive an invitation. If you are not sure whether it is, please check with your surgery.

Lung Cancer Screening is done on the phone. A specially-trained NHS team, including nurses, will phone or contact you within 15 minutes of your agreed appointment time to carry out your check. The appointment will last around 30 to 45 minutes.

You will be asked a number of questions about your health, lifestyle and history, including any personal history of cancer or family history of lung cancer. The answers will be used to assess your risk of developing lung cancer in the future.

If you are assessed as being at increased risk of lung cancer, you will be offered a low dose CT scan. If you are offered a scan, the caller will talk you through the benefits and risks of this, and you will be able to ask any questions you may have. An appointment for your CT scan will then be booked for you.

After your scan, you will receive your results within around four weeks. Your GP will also be contacted with the results of your scan.

Click here to watch this video of what to expect at your lung check CT scan.

Your lungs are a part of your body that work hard every day so you can breathe. They do not get much rest as in one day you can breathe up to 25,000 times!

Your lungs carry oxygen from the air into your blood and release carbon dioxide from your blood into the air. Your body’s cells need this oxygen to work properly. Your lungs have a natural defence system to keep out dirt and germs but several things can damage this, meaning they can’t do their job as well.

There are lots of things that you can do to look after your lungs, which are just as important if you already have a lung condition, including:

being more active
eating a balanced diet
stopping smoking
making sure you have all your vaccinations if you are over 65 years old or have a long term condition
knowing the warning signs and symptoms of lung conditions including Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases (COPD) and lung cancer.

General information about the checks from the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation

If you are a health professional in primary care, click here for more information on the Lung Cancer Screening programme :