Service Overview
If you're aged between 55 and 74 and have ever smoked, you may be given the opportunity to take part in lung cancer screening, with a lung health check.
Lung cancer causes more deaths than any other cancer in the UK. There are often no signs or symptoms of lung cancer at an early stage.
Lung cancer screening aims to find lung cancer early, sometimes before you have symptoms.
The lung health check looks at how well your lungs are working and can help diagnose lung cancer as early as possible. Early diagnosis can make lung cancer more treatable and make treatment more successful.
What to Expect
A lung health check looks at how well your lungs are working. Your appointment may be in person, by phone, or online.
A member of the Lung Health Check Team will ask about your health and lifestyle, to find out if you are at risk of developing lung cancer. At the end of your lung health check, one of the following things will happen:
- No further action. If the lung health check suggests you are not at higher risk of developing lung cancer, then no further action is needed.
- Referral to your GP. If the lung health check finds problems with your breathing or lung health, you may be referred to your GP, to discuss this in more detail.
- Offered a Low Dose CT scan of your lungs. If the lung health check finds you're at a higher risk of developing lung cancer, you may be invited for a Low Dose CT scan.
What happens at the Low Dose CT scan?
CT scans take a detailed picture of your lungs. It will take place at the North Kent Community Diagnostic Centre, Dartford.
Your appointment will last about 30 minutes. The CT scan will only take a few minutes and does not hurt. You will not need any dye (contrast medium) for the scan.
Further Links & Information
You will receive a letter with your results within 4 weeks of the CT scan. If a follow-up is needed, the lung health check team will contact you to talk about the next steps. In the majority of cases, no further action is needed.
If no further action is needed, you will be offered another check in two years to see if anything has changed.
If you currently still smoke, you will also be offered stop smoking support. Please click here for more information on stopping smoking.