Lung health checks move to Wigan borough supermarket car park in bid to save lives

A mobile clinic has been stationed at Tesco in Hindley since mid-November, where more than 3,102 people have benefitted from a lung health check.

Now the service have moved to Tesco Extra in Leigh, where a scanner and clinic is housed in a mobile unit on the store’s car park at The Loom.

It operates six days a week – Monday to Saturday – from 8am to 8pm, to ensure appointments are accessible to everyone.

GP letters will be sent to smokers and former smokers aged 55 to 74 in Leigh Primary Care Network, inviting them to go along.

The new checks are the latest phase of the Greater Manchester Targeted Lung Health Check Programme – a drive to improve earlier diagnosis of lung cancer and save more lives.

The programme is jointly organised by Greater Manchester Cancer Alliance and Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust.

Greater Manchester has one of the highest mortality rates for lung cancer in England.

Patients who are invited for a lung health check will firstly talk to specialist nurse, where they will answer health and lifestyle questions which will determine whether they are at high or low risk.

If deemed high risk, they will be offered a low-dose 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 okay 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. Almost 80 per cent of these patients were diagnosed at stages one or two, 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 Leigh Primary Care Network and a GP at Old Henry Street Medical Centre, said: “The survival rate for lung cancer significantly increases if it’s caught in the early stages and 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.”

Wigan borough GP Dr Liam Hosie 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 to spot signs earlier, at the stage when it is much more treatable and ultimately saving more lives.

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.