‘A potential life-saver’: Thousands more to get lung health checks after purchase of £1.1m CT scanner
By Simon Bristow
An extra 7,000 people in the Humber region and North Yorkshire could receive potentially life-saving lung scans every year following the acquisition of another CT scanning unit by partners working together to deliver the NHS Targeted Lung Health Check programme.
The addition of a second CT scanner was made possible after NHS England and NHS Improvement awarded more than £1.1m to the NHS Targeted Lung Health Check programme in Humber and North Yorkshire, an area which includes Hull, East Yorkshire, North Lincolnshire, North East Lincolnshire, York and North Yorkshire.
The CT scanning unit will be used to check the health of people’s lungs as part of the NHS Targeted Lung Health Check programme, which recently launched in North East Lincolnshire and has been running in Hull for about two years. The programme will be rolled out in other parts of Humber and North Yorkshire in the coming years.
The acquisition of an extra CT scanner will increase the diagnostic capacity of the NHS Targeted Lung Health Check programme in Humber and North Yorkshire, from around 7,000 lung health check scans per year to 14,000 scans per year, meaning people in our region can be checked sooner for conditions such as lung cancer, which often doesn’t have any obvious symptoms in the early stages.
The programme invites people aged 55 to 74 who smoke or used to smoke and are registered with a local GP for a free lung health check.
The screening consists of a telephone assessment and, if necessary, a low-dose CT scan and helps to identify potential lung problems, including lung cancer, at an earlier stage when they are easier to treat. The CT scans take place on a mobile scanning unit in the community, such as a supermarket car park or sports stadium, and only take 30 seconds to complete.
Dr Stuart Baugh, clinical director for Humber and North Yorkshire Cancer Alliance, said: “The addition of a second CT scanner is a timely boost to the NHS Targeted Lung Health Check programme in Humber and North Yorkshire as it will help us to potentially diagnose lung conditions in more people at an early stage – when treatment is likely to be more successful and straightforward.
“Community screening of this nature plays a huge part in the early detection of conditions such as lung cancer, which often has no symptoms in the early stages. By picking up problems earlier they can be easier to treat and can increase people’s chances of survival.”
Dr Kanwal Tariq, consultant in chest medicine at Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “It’s no exaggeration to say that for some people, the lung health check has potentially been a life saver, and we are proud to have been leading such a proactive and forward-thinking initiative right here in Hull.
“We are keen to continue to play that central role in the delivery of lung health checks further afield now that capacity is set to increase, and we look forward to seeing the new unit up in running in the near future.”
Visit the cancer alliance’s website to find out more about the NHS Targeted Lung Health Check programme in the Humber and North Yorkshire.