Lung Cancer Screening is offered to residents between the ages of 55 and 74 and who smoke or used to smoke, across all north central London boroughs. The programme is delivered by University College London Hospitals (UCLH) and managed by the NCL Cancer Alliance.

GP practices can support the programme in a number of ways. Visit the NCL Cancer Alliance website to download resources to use in your practice, website and social media to help raise awareness of the programme to patients. 

Why is Lung Cancer Screening important?

• Lung cancer can go undetected during its early stages, as there are often no signs or symptoms.
• Fewer than 20% of people diagnosed with lung cancer survive for five years or more.
• Lung cancer screening helps to detect cancer at an earlier stage, when curative treatment is more possible.
• To date, 75% of lung cancers found through lung cancer screening have been at stage 1 or stage 2, compared with 30% without this kind of intervention.

The screening process

Invitation letters are sent out by UCLH, after relevant patient data has been collected from each GP practice. Patients smoking status needs to be accurately recorded on the GP practice system for them to receive an invite. 

The screening comprises of three stages 

1. the first is a call to check a patient's eligibility 
2. this is followed up with a face-to-face appointment with a health professional who will assess the participant's risk of lung cancer
3. if deemed to be high risk, the participant will be invited for a low dose chest CT. The screening service will organise this, as required.

The CT scans are reviewed and results are sent to both patients and GPs within four weeks. There are four possible results:

• Normal: No signs of cancer and the patient will be sent an invite again in two years.
• Nodule (indeterminate): The patient will be invited to attend for a repeat scan in 3 or 12months.
• Positive (suspected cancer): The patient is referred to their local hospital for follow-up tests.
• Incidental finding: The patient may be referred to their local hospital or GP for follow-up.

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusions

• People aged 55-74 years, who smoke or used to smoke.

How to Refer

Locations

Finchley Memorial Hospital

University College Hospital

Wood Green Community Diagnostic Centre