72,000 Crawley and Brighton patients to be offered a "Lung MOT" by the NHS

People aged 55 to 74, living in Brighton and Crawley, will be invited to the check in a drive to improve earlier diagnosis of lung cancer and save more lives.

Doctor Tina George, clinical lead for cancer at NHS Sussex and co-clinical director for the Sussex Targeted Lung Health Check programme, said: “For a number of reasons, lung cancer is one of the hardest cancers to diagnose early, so the Targeted Lung Health Checks are very welcome.

"This is a great example of proactive health care to ensure early diagnosis through direct outreach into local communities.”

Invitation letters to 72,000 patients registered with GP practices in the Crawley Care Collaborative Primary Care Network and West Hove Primary Care Network are being sent out from this month to September.

A mobile scanning unit will be in place in the car park of Sainsbury’s West Hove Superstore from July 18 and the Asda Crawley Superstore from July 21.

Other GP practices in Brighton and Hove will be inviting patients over the coming 18 months.

NHS statistics show Brighton and Hove to have the highest mortality rate from lung cancer across Sussex, and Crawley has the fourth highest lung cancer incidence and smoking prevalence in the region.

Doctor Jenny Messenger, co-clinical director for Sussex Targeted Lung Health Check programme, said: “If we can find lung cancer at an earlier stage, there is a wider range of treatment options available to patients including curative surgery or radiotherapy.

"The Targeted Lung Health Checks will improve patient outcomes, improve their quality of life, and ultimately save lives.”

Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer death and can often be caught too late as there are rarely symptoms at the earlier stages.

The lung check programme is designed to identify those most at risk of developing lung cancer in order to spot signs earlier, at the stage when it’s much more treatable, ultimately saving lives.

Doctor George said: “I would encourage everyone to take up their invite, if they receive a letter from the Targeted Lung Health Checks team.

"Think of this as a lung MOT - as well as having an assessment with a specially trained nurse, and possibly a CT scan, people can also be given support to quit smoking.”

Around 50,000 people aged 55 to 74 living in Brighton and Hove, and 22,000 in the same age group living in Crawley will be invited by letter to a lung health check by the Targeted Lung Health Check team over the course of the programme.

Based on previous pilots, this could identify an estimated 600 cases of lung cancer earlier than otherwise would have been.

Those invited will have an initial phone assessment with a specially trained health care professional.

If the assessment finds the person to be higher risk, they will be offered a free low dose CT scan of the lungs for further investigation – a CT scan is a series of X-rays taken from different angles.

Appointments are by invitation only – after the phone assessment has taken place.

READ MORE

Crawley primary school attends victorious England women’s Euros match against Norway

Car racing reported in Crawley

Gatwick Airport water supplies 'back to normal' after burst

Patients from the following GP practices will be the first to receive an invite for an initial phone assessment:

West Hove Primary Care Network - Hove Medical Centre, Wish Park Surgery, Links Road Surgery, Benfield Valley Healthcare Hub, Mile Oak Medical Centre and Portslade Health Centre.

Crawley Care Collaborative Primary Care Network - Bridge Medical Centre, Langley Corner Surgery, Leacroft Medical Practice and Southgate Medical Group.

For more information on the Targeted Lung Health Check programme, visit www.sussexlunghealthcheck.nhs.uk/