Since November 2022, we have been piloting a new service aimed at helping to diagnose lung cancer at an earlier stage when treatment may be more successful.
The south Kent coast area was chosen by NHS England, in partnership with the Kent and Medway Cancer Alliance, for the first local area for the pilot.
The pilot was known as Targeted Lung Health Checks, the name changed to Lung Cancer Screening on 1 February 2025
How does it work?
If you live in Sandwich, Deal, Dover, Folkestone, Hythe, New Romney and surrounding areas, aged 55 to 74, are registered with a GP and have ever smoked, you may be invited for a lung health check.
You may receive a letter in the post inviting you to make a telephone appointment with the lung health check team, this appointment will take no longer than 15 minutes.
During the telephone call you will be asked questions about your overall lung health, lifestyle, family and medical history.
Following the telephone appointment, you may be invited to have CT scan to look at your lungs. The CT scan will be held at the Buckland Hospital in Dover. The CT scan is to check for early signs of lung cancer.
Your results will be sent to you, and 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 your lungs are fine, 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 with our One You advisor.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
These checks on your lungs should help to find out early any health issues with your lungs, which you may not even be aware of – as there are no real symptoms yet.
So, it’s important you attend when you receive an invitation for a lung health check, even if you feel fine.
You will be invited on to the programme from your local hospital. The first step of a lung health check will be to have a phone appointment with a health professional.
They will ask you some questions to find out more about your lung health.
If this shows that you are at a higher risk of having health issues with your lungs, you will be offered an appointment for a lung scan. This will be a low-dose CT scan to take a detailed picture of your lungs.
Afterwards the pictures of the lungs will be reviewed, and you’ll be contacted with an update on what they show. If needed, you’ll be referred to a clinician.
If you are a smoker, you’ll also be offered support for quitting smoking, as part of the lung health check.
Lung health checks will be available to people who are registered with a GP in Kent and Medway. If you live in an area where they are taking place, you will receive an invitation if all of the following apply to you.
You:
- are over 55 but younger than 75 years old
- are registered with an GP in the pilot area (see list below)
- have ever smoked, and this is recorded with your GP.
You will receive a letter inviting you to take part. Even if you feel fine, it’s important that you still book an appointment, as the checks could pick up an illness, even if you don’t have symptoms.
The health checks look for early signs of lung related illnesses before there are any symptoms. If you notice any of the following symptoms or anything that is not normal for you, you should tell your doctor.
- a cough that won't go away
- a change in a cough you’ve had for a long time
- being short of breath
- coughing up blood
- feeling very tired.
If you are 75 or older, you will not be invited for a lung health check. This is because we can only invite people who will be younger than 75-years-old at the time of their first CT scan.
If you were younger than 75-years-old when you attended your first lung health check and you had a CT scan as part of your lung health check, you will be invited for any follow-up CT scans required, even if you are 75 or over when these follow-up scans are booked.
Lung health checks are only being offered to people who smoke or used to smoke. If you have any concerns about your breathing, please contact your GP practice.
Those who are eligible who live in the South Kent Coast area will receive an invitation to book an appointment. The programme will run over two years from November 2022 through to November 2024.
Invitations to book an appointment will be sent out over the two-year period. For other areas of Kent and Medway, we are currently working with local health systems to expand the programme.
Those who are eligible who live in Canterbury will receive an invitation to book an appointment from March 2025 onwards, The programme will then expand to the remainder of East Kent in late 2025
Eligible patients registered at the following GP practices will be invited to a lung health check.
- The Marsh (Lydd, New Romney, Dymchurch)
- Church Lane Health Centre
- Martello Health Centre
- Oak Hill Practice
- Orchard House Surgery
- Folkestone Hythe and Rural
- Church Road Practice
- Folkstone Surgery
- Hawkinge and Elham Surgery
- Oaklands Health Centre
- Sun Lane Surgery
- White House Surgery
- Health Care Excellence East (Dover)
- Aylesham Medical Practice
- Lydden Surgery
- White Cliffs Medical Centre
- Pencester Surgery
- Health Care Excellence West (Folkestone)
- Guildhall Street Surgery
- Manor Clinic
- Sandgate Road Surgery
- The New Surgery
- Dover Town
- Buckland Medical Practice
- High Street Surgery
- Peter Street Surgery
- St James’ Surgery
- Deal and Sandwich
- Balmoral Surgery
- Manor Road Surgery
- Sandwich Medical Practice
- St Richard’s Road Surgery
- The Cedars Surgery.
The initial lung health check, taking place over the phone, with a nurse, will last between 30 and 45 minutes.
Only if you are invited for a CT scan, which will take place at Buckland Hospital, Dover.
The lung health check will be completed over the phone, in person at the Community Diagnostic Centre, or out in the community during an outreach event
CT stands for computerised tomography. It is a special scan that uses x-rays and a computer to create details images of the inside of your body.
A CT scan is carried out by a specially trained clinician called a radiographer.
For the lung health checks, we use a low dose CT, which means that the exposure to radiation is very low, similar to about a year’s worth of radiation from the natural environment
Your CT scan appointment will last around 20 minutes.
The results will be sent to you and your GP within four weeks of your scan. If you have not received the results within six weeks of your scan, please contact the service using the numbers in the letters we have sent to you.
Yes, an interpreter can be arranged for you. When you book your lung health check, you will be asked whether you need one and the lung health check team will then arrange this for you.
Yes, you can either bring a friend, family member or carer with you to your appointment.
Yes, Buckland Hospital is wheelchair accessible. When you book your lung health check, you will be asked about your mobility so that we can make sure we can support you at your appointment.
This will be subject to an assessment by the patient transport booking service.
We’re rolling out the lung health checks across a two-year period, starting with the older population. Please be patient whilst you wait for your invitation.
There is not an option to self-refer to this programme, you must be invited by letter. We are working on expanding the programme, so that people from different areas in Kent and Medway can be invited in the future.
Until the programme expands to your area, you will only be invited to a lung health check if you are registered with one of the GPs listed above.
If you have been invited for a CT scan and you have symptoms of Covid-19, do not attend your appointment.
It is important to look out for anything that is unusual for you, if you notice any of the following, without Covid-19 symptoms.
Please contact your GP practice as soon as possible for:
- unexplained persistent cough
- unexplained persistent breathlessness
- fatigue lasting four or more weeks
- persistent or recurrent chest infection
- unexplained weight loss
- appetite loss.
If you are unsure or do not want to attend because of concerns about Covid-19, then please contact the lung health check appointment team to discuss this.
