Life-saving lung cancer screening launches in Canterbury

Canterbury’s smokers and former smokers, aged 55 to 74, are being invited to ‘love your lungs’ and take up potentially life-saving NHS lung cancer screening.  

Following a successful pilot phase on the south Kent coast, from July, NHS Kent and Medway Cancer Alliance is extending its phased rollout of the NHS lung cancer screening programme (formerly Targeted Lung Health Checks) to Canterbury. 

The alliance is urging residents in Canterbury, who have received an invitation, to make their potentially life-saving lung health check call. 

‘successful’ 

Dr Jonathan Bryant, NHS Kent and Medway Primary Care Cancer Clinical Lead said: “The lung cancer screening programme has been successful so far in identifying lung cancer at an earlier stage, when it is much more treatable.  

“I encourage residents in Canterbury who receive an NHS lung cancer screening invitation to make sure they book that telephone appointment. Lung cancer is often detected at a later stage, but early detection can be lifesaving.” 

‘helped to save lives’ 

The NHS lung cancer screening programme has already helped to save lives in Kent and Medway. 

The service helps diagnose lung cancer at an earlier stage when treatment may be more successful. 

In the south Kent coast lung cancer screening programme, 66 people have been diagnosed with lung cancer so far, more than 60 per cent of which were found at an early stage (Stage one or two). This compares to 28 per cent found at an early stage outside of the screening.* 

Early diagnosis 

Lung cancer causes more deaths than any other cancer in the UK. It is commonly diagnosed too late, due to there often being no symptoms at the earlier stages. 

Attending NHS lung cancer screening can help find issues early, often before symptoms occur. 

Lung cancer screening takes place in two stages. The first is an initial phone assessment with a specially trained health care professional.  If the assessment finds the person to be at high risk, they are offered a CT scan of their lungs at Community Diagnostic Centre for further investigation. 

The programme is designed to check those most at risk of developing lung cancer to spot early signs. 

Other lung conditions can also be identified through the screening. If this happens, participants will be referred on for the appropriate treatment.   

Stop smoking advice is also being offered to support current smokers.   

*Statistics from East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust, 2025. 

• The programme was known as Targeted Lung Health Checks, the name changed to Lung Cancer Screening on 1 February 2025.