Agenda item

The Targeted Lung Health Check (TLHC) Project is a new service offered to those aged 55 to 74 who are at a greater risk of developing lung cancer. The report provides an overview of the project and its outcomes thus far.

Sally Le-Good (Senior Cancer Service Manager, LLR ICB) presented an overview of the Targeted Lung Health Check (TLHC) Project to be offered to those aged 55 to 74 who are at a greater risk of developing lung cancer.

It was noted that:-

•           This is a new screening service being rolled out across England. It will help identify lung diseases/cancers.

•           The screening is offered to anyone 55-74 who have ever smoked; in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland this will equate to 78,000 people.

•           Those identified will be invited to be screened. This will start as a telephone triage, leading on to a face-to-face spirometry test, chest x-ray and CT Scan as required. The result can either be referral to smoking cessation or onward to care/treatment.

•           The pathway is not prescriptive yet – and local decisions are required. To enable those decision to be made at a clinical level the programme has been paused. However it was hoped that the service will commence from June 2024.

•           The screening will create a bulge in early-stage cancers – so an infrastructure needs to be in place.

•           There is a Steering Group who will be deciding where the tests will be procured or sub-contracted from. That Group will feed into the Cancer Board (among others) for governance.

•           Funding is from the East Midlands Cancer Alliance for this year and next year.

Comments and questions from the Board:-

-           Members asked whether people exposed to passive/second-hand smoke should also be invited to the screening. The presenting officer noted that miners and military groups are already being considered as high risk cohorts – and was happy to ask the National Team whether passive smokers could also be added to the list. She did feel however that, as this group will be a very large cohort, it may need to be part of a phased approach. The DPH noted that there is potential for any screening to cause unnecessary worry - and he felt that the National Screening Committee’s experts will have already considered the risk balance in order to exclude passive smokers from the screening. He will therefore ask someone in Public Health to look into this in the first instance – rather than making this request direct to the National Team.

-           Rachna Vyas felt that we should write to the National Team, as a Board, about the fact that the age profile for the screening is incorrect with regards to Leicester. She felt that the large list can be narrowed if we invite the most at-risk cohorts first – and this is particularly important as the funding is set to end after two years. She felt this should be incorporated into a letter to the national team.

-           Members agreed that the invitation letters need to be screened for health literacy and written with our local population in mind – ie be bespoke for Leicester and easy to read/understand. Public Health leads will draft a letter (on behalf of the Board) to the National Team with a request to look at the health literacy of the letter.

-           Jo Atkinson noted that there need to be seamless pathways to the cessation services (“Live Well” for Leicester and “Quit Ready” for the County and Rutland. This could use an “opt out” methodology as is used for the maternity smoking cessation offer.

-           The presenting officer took on board the comments about the screening letter itself – and noted that the “Gallery” blood letters were reviewed and amended in a similar way and resulted in a 93% retention rate.

RESOLVED:

1.         That the Board thanked Officers for the report - and asked that comments from the Board be taken into account.

2.         That the DPH will ask someone in Public Health to look into the issue of whether passive smokers could/should be added to the list of invitees to the screening.

3.         That the Board will consider writing a letter to the National Team about the current age profile of the screening, and about the possibility of inviting the most at-risk cohorts first.

4.         That Rob Howard and Dr Packham will draft a letter, on behalf of the Board, to the National Team with a request to look at the health literacy (ie readability and appropriate use of language to fit our communities) of the screening invitation letter.