Thank you for contacting me about lung health.
Targeted Lung Health Checks have been implemented in the most deprived areas of England, where people are four times more likely to smoke and are therefore at higher risk of lung cancer. This has resulted in greater numbers of lung cancer being detected in these areas than previously.
The programme will be converted to a Targeted Lung Cancer Screening Programme and fully rolled out in all regions by 2030.Cancer is being diagnosed at earlier stages, more often, with survival rates improving across almost all types of cancer with the National Health Service seeing and treating record numbers of cancer patients over the last two years.
The planned Major Conditions Strategy will look at the early diagnosis and treatment of cancer. The strategy will look at a wide range of interventions and enablers to improve outcomes and experience for a range of cancer patients, including those less survivable cancers.
We have already acted upon some of the areas that the 2020 Less Survivable Cancer Taskforce report requested, for example the introduction of targeted lung health checks, trials for cytosponge, and the roll out of non-specific symptom pathways.