Digital screening for lung cancer

The aim of the lung cancer screening programme is to reduce deaths from lung cancer, by finding it early when treatment to cure it is still an option.

The lung health check aims to identify signs of lung cancer earlier. It looks at the risk of developing lung cancer, and those who meet the risk threshold are put forward for a low-dose CT scan.

To be eligible to be invited for a lung health check, people must be:

• aged between 55 and 74
• current or former smokers
• registered with a GP surgery in an area where the lung health checks are currently offered.

The programme is currently rolling out across England, with the target of being available to 100% of the eligible population by the end of 2030.

The NHS website has more information about lung cancer screening.

How the lung health check works currently

Currently, the assessment for the lung health check is via a phone appointment.

This model is resource-intensive and creates access barriers, especially for people in underserved areas or those unaware of their eligibility. These constraints may limit uptake, delay early detection, and put additional strain on healthcare professionals.

A new online service

We are testing a new online service for NHS lung cancer screening, investigating an alternative to phone appointments to free up NHS resources, whilst checking that all information is captured correctly.

Digitising the assessment will present several opportunities, including:

• making it more accessible
• potentially getting more accurate answers during the assessment
• giving more people the opportunity to participate and be diagnosed early, which provides better outcomes
• freeing up NHS resources

A pilot to test how an online service will work

NHS England is currently running a pilot with RM Partners, NW and SW London Cancer Alliance, and the InHealth Group.

We are testing the feasibility of an online assessment questionnaire and verifying that we can collect accurate smoking history data from participants.

Our focus for the online assessment questionnaire has been on getting the right balance between capturing enough information for the risk calculation to be accurate, and keeping people engaged so they don’t drop out of our service.

The aim of the pilot is for 1,000 participants to access the online assessment questionnaire. They will then go through the phone call assessment, so that we can compare the two sets of answers.

We will look to see whether people are able to complete the questions independently online, or whether they need the help of the phone handler to answer.

Plans for after the pilot

The pilot will inform whether there is a need to develop a national online risk assessment for lung cancer screening.

After the pilot is finished we will assess the results and develop plans for scaling. It is likely that the online version will run alongside standard telephone assessment, and be gradually rolled out.

Get in touch with the programme team if you would like to be involved or have any other feedback or questions. or questions.