01/10/2025
A Black Country screening programme launched 18 months ago is continuing to improve the early diagnosis of lung cancer in Sandwell residents.
The Lung Cancer Screening Programme (formerly known as Targeted Lung Health Checks) has held lung health check appointments with over 18,000 people in Sandwell since it was rolled out across the region.
Around 6,200 people were scanned after being found to be at a high risk of developing lung cancer, with scans diagnosing a total of 41 people with stage 1 or 2 lung cancer so far.
The screening programme has also detected other forms of cancer in an additional 14 patients, including breast cancer and bowel cancer, and has performed around 700 surveillance scans on patients.
Sixty-nine-year-old Noel Cunningham from Great Barr quit smoking in 2017 following a heart attack. After contracting COVID and still feeling unwell, he visited his GP and was asked to attend a lung cancer screening appointment, which detected stage 3A cancer in his right lung and his thoracic lymph nodes.
He said: “If I hadn’t been sent for this screening, I would have been none the wiser.
“It’s been a bit of journey, but I’ve had a lot of fantastic people take care of me, and I’m so grateful to the lung cancer screening team.
“I would recommend everyone go to their appointment. Nobody wants to hear the word cancer, but if I hadn’t gone, I could still be here today not even knowing I had it.”
The programme screens those aged 55 to 74 who are registered with a Sandwell GP and are current or former smokers.
If you have been invited but couldn’t take up the offer, have recently registered with a Sandwell GP or haven’t received your invitation, please call 0121 817 5449.
