Life saving lung cancer screening returns to the borough next month
A mobile lung cancer screening bus will be returning to Wirral from the beginning of August. Current or ex smokers in a certain age group may be invited for a scan at this pioneering health service, which is already saving lives.
Mike Fortune is a Social Action Lead at One Wirral CIC, a Community Interest Company whose aim is to improve people’s health and wellbeing in Wirral. Mike’s role is to drive awareness around early cancer diagnosis and detection.
We spoke to Mike, who has been promoting the service at a number of roadshows across the borough, to learn more about the Lung Cancer Screening Programme.
Mike said:
Lung cancer is can be hard to detect in the early stages, with symptoms often appearing later on. This programme is turning that round. Through the screening, the team are detecting people at stage 1 and 2 which has a high survival rate compared to stage 3 and 4.
Provided by Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital (LHCH) the service invites individuals who have smoked at some point, Mike says it’s important for people to make sure their smoking status and history is up to date.
Mike said:
Make sure if you’ve ever been a smoker or are one, that it’s registered with your GP. It’s important that’s in your records. If it is, and the team are coming to your area, you’ll receive a text or letter inviting you to a consultation with the lung cancer team and they will assess you over the phone to understand your background. From that you could potentially be invited to a scan at mobile unit.
If you are invited for a scan, the mobile unit offers complete privacy for those being scanned. Mike said:
Once you’re inside it’s just like going into a private area of a hospital, so you can be in the car park of a busy supermarket, but you have complete privacy.
The scanner is painless - it’s quick and delivers a low level radiation scan from the neck to the bottom of the chest. The scan takes no more than a couple of minutes to do and it is non-invasive.
The programme is targeting residents aged 55-74 who have a history of smoking, even if they haven’t smoked a lot or it was a long time ago. It has already been successful in detecting cancer early for a number of individuals. In the past four years Lung Cancer Screening (formerly known as Targeted Lung Health Checks) has found 660 lung cancers across Cheshire and Merseyside - including 33 people who live in Wirral. More than 500 of those were detected at an early stage, when treatment is easier and can be more successful.
Mike said:
I met a gent at one of our roadshows recently who told me that his brother had been invited for a scan at the unit. He was in his 70s and had smoked a little in the past, but had no symptoms or health issues. The scan picked something up at stage 1. As it had been detected early he received treatment and has since had the all clear. He told me without the scan, his brother might not have known about the cancer until it was too late.
Mike, who has lost two much-loved family members to lung cancer in the past, would encourage anybody who is eligible, to take up the offer.
Mike said:
I understand if people think they don’t need it. But prevention and early diagnosis is everything. So, let’s just make sure. If you’re invited into the programme, take advantage of it.
The lung cancer screening mobile unit will be returning to various locations in Wirral from 4 August 2025 until February 2026.
If you’re aged 55-74 and are a current or ex-smoker, you should be contacted automatically.
If you think you could be eligible for a lung health check, contact your GP practice and make sure your smoking status is up to date, otherwise you will not be invited.
For more information about the programme, visit: Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital | Lung Cancer Screening.
