As a GP, what is required of me and my practice as part of the lung cancer screening programme?

All practices in the area where lung cancer screening is being piloted will be invited to share their list of eligible patients by signing up to a Data Sharing Agreement.

Invitations will be sent to patients by the programme; there is no involvement required from GPs in this process.

We ask that GPs encourage eligible patients to take up their lung cancer screening invitation, as they do for existing cancer screening programmes, by explaining the benefits of the programme.

As a GP, what resources do you have for me to explain this process to my patients who are invited?

We will be providing you with a local pathway so that you can explain to the patient how the process will work. We will also offer a public frequently asked questions (FAQs) document and a short briefing for you and your staff. There is also this website you can refer patients to, with frequently asked questions.

We will also be providing a toolkit, developed by the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, which will support you during the rollout.

How will you manage the current capacity in the system for radiologists, CT nurses and the reporting of low dose CT scans of the chest?

A pathway has been produced which has increased the capacity to read and report on CT scans. Low dose CT scans will be offered at local community diagnostic centres. Reporting will be done by sharing data via existing hospital systems.

We are working closely with the hospital trust involved to ensure the modelling for the programme is sustainable.

What extra resources and training are needed to successfully deliver the project?

The programme has been fully funded by NHS England (NHSE), who will provide training for recruited staff.

How do we support patients who are not identified as having nodes or cancer but may have other conditions?

If there are other lung conditions identified, patients will be referred into the appropriate pathway.

What about the data considerations, how easily will it be to share data with other clinicians. Are there any Information Governance (IG) issues?

We are working with the Information Governance (IG) and Digital teams to make sure there are systems in place that can easily communicate with each other and offer the results on a shareable platform. Information governance is of the utmost importance.

How will you report back to our practice about patients who have been through the screening programme?

The radiologists will review the report and the lung health check team will send you and your patient the report from the findings and further management plan if necessary. This will be made as easy to read as possible with a box outlining any actions needed to support the patient.

How will patients be invited? Are GPs expected to send the letters out?

No, the lung health checks teams will send the invitations out to minimise pressure on your practice. They will request the list of registered smokers/ex-smokers aged 55 to 74+364 days.

What about other cancers, if they are detected?

Patients will go straight into a cancer pathway directly through the hospital trusts. This will be a referral made by the lung cancer screening team. It will not be passed back to the GP surgery, thereby avoiding unnecessary delays to patient care. However, the patient's GP will be informed of the actions taken by the lung cancer screening team as quickly as possible.