SMOKERS will be offered mid-life lung cancer screenings — including scans in supermarket car parks.
Those aged 55 to 74 with a GP record of cig use will be invited for scans and help with kicking the habit.
GettySmokers will be offered mid-life lung cancer screenings — including on the go[/caption]
Mobile screening units in convenient places — such as outside superstores — will help deliver the aim of almost one million annual tests.
It is part of a plan to catch 9,000 cases early each year.
PM Rishi Sunak has said the £270million-a-year programme will save lives and “provide a lifeline to families across the country”.
Those deemed at high risk will be given specialist scans every two years.
Ministers hope the rollout will reach 40 per cent of eligible people by March 2025 with full coverage by March 2030.
A trial scheme saw 76 per cent of lung cancers in those tested caught at an earlier stage.
Smoking causes 72 per cent of lung cancers, which has one of the lowest survival rates and kills 35,000 patients a year in the UK.
Early treatment dramatically increases the chances of a patient surviving.
The PM said: “Rolling out screening to high-risk 55 to 74-year-olds will save lives by detecting up to 9,000 lung cancers a year at an early stage.
“The NHS has treated record numbers of cancer patients over the last two years, with cancer being diagnosed at an earlier stage more often and survival rates improving across almost all types of cancer.
“Today’s announcement will help us go further and provide a lifeline to thousands of families across the country.”
Health Secretary Steve Barclay declared: “I am determined to combat cancer on all fronts through better prevention, detection, treatment and research.”
Life hope& risk of death fail
THE NHS is poor at extending life expectancy compared with other countries, research shows.
It also ranks low for reducing the risk of death.
The study by the King’s Fund think-tank scored the NHS against 18 countries including the US, Canada, France and Japan.
Britain ranked third from bottom for life expectancy at birth for males in 2020.
An average boy born then lives to 78 compared to 81 in Japan.
Some 119 people per 100,000 here died of preventable causes in 2019 compared to 83 in Japan.
NHS Providers called the findings “very worrying”.