Mobile clinic returns to Wigan for trial which could detect cancer before symptoms appear

Participants in the NHS-Galleri trial will be asked to give another blood sample to help investigate whether a multi-cancer blood screening test can help to detect the disease early, before symptoms appear.

Since it first arrived in Wigan in February 2022, the trial has enrolled more than 140,000 volunteers across England, including 20,000 from Greater Manchester.

Those taking part were aged 50 to 77 and had not been diagnosed or treated for cancer in the last three years.

Alison Armstrong, associate director at Greater Manchester Cancer Alliance, said: “We are delighted to be welcoming back volunteers to Wigan for their vital second appointment as part of the trial. We know from feedback that volunteers found the process of enrolling very straightforward. We want to thank them for returning for both their second and third appointments, which will be even shorter. It’s such a simple thing to do but could make a big difference.”Prof Charles Swanton, co-chief investigator for the NHS-Galleri trial, said: “These next trial appointments are really vital for helping researchers understand whether the test could be used in the future as part of the NHS cancer screening programme.

“Whilst the first year of the trial may pick up cancers that have existed for some time, the second and third years provide the best opportunity to explore the expected benefits of picking up new cancers at an early stage when treatment is generally more successful.”

If successful, the NHS in England plans to roll out the test to a further one million people in 2024 and 2025.

Research has shown the Galleri test could help to detect cancers that are typically difficult to identify early, such as head and neck, bowel, lung, pancreatic and throat cancers.

In its first year, the trial has referred a small proportion of participants for urgent NHS cancer investigations, following detection of a positive Galleri cancer signal.

The NHS-Galleri trial is being run by the Cancer Research UK and King’s College London Cancer Prevention Trials Unit, with the NHS and healthcare company GRAIL, which has developed the Galleri test.

The mobile unit will be at Tesco in Wigan until Thursday, March 16 and then returns on March 27 and 28.