Lung Cancer Screening Programme

12. What progress his Department has made on ensuring that incidental findings from the lung cancer screening programme are followed up.

The lung cancer screening programme is already making a difference by helping to find lung cancers earlier, when they are easier to treat. By focusing first on areas with the greatest need, it is also helping to narrow the gap in lung cancer outcomes. The programme can also identify other serious health conditions. Clear NHS protocols are now in place so that these findings are followed up and patients can get the right care as quickly as possible.

Mr Speaker, if there is a five-a-side doctor in the House, I would be most grateful. Following the question from my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme (Adam Jogee), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is one of the big killers in my constituency of Wythenshawe and Sale East. Chiesi, a company based in my constituency, is leading the fight in early diagnosis. What assessment has the Minister made of the Frontier Hull programme in tackling this, and will she commit to exploring scaling this up nationally to improve patient outcomes and save our NHS money?

I thank my hon. Friend for highlighting the excellent work of Hull University teaching hospital and Chiesi. The NHS has delivered spirometry tests in community settings, including community diagnostic centres, to diagnose COPD missed in the pandemic, and the lung cancer screening programme also refers patients to primary care, including for COPD.

Two Members had been standing before, so obviously there has been a bit of intimidation on the Benches. I call Jim Shannon.

Never intimidation, Mr Speaker; I am not strong enough for that. My colleague and friend, the hon. Member for Runcorn and Helsby (Sarah Pochin), has kindly let me ask this question. As chair of the all-party parliamentary group on respiratory health, I want to ask this question. The lung cancer screening programme has been an enormous success, and the Minister knows that the low-dose CT scan regularly identifies clinically significant incidental findings, so what progress has her Department made in ensuring that incidental funding is followed up? When will the national guidance be issued on this, preferably as part of a modern service framework for respiratory health?

The NHS lung cancer screening programme has clear national protocols and quality assurance arrangements to ensure that clinically significant incidental findings are reported, followed up and acted on appropriately to help ensure that patients receive timely assessment and treatment through established NHS pathways.