AQW 19097/17-22

Mr Stewart Dickson
Alliance Party
East Antrim

Tabled Date: 19/05/2021
Answered On Date: 10/06/2021
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Health (i) for his assessment of current levels of lung cancer screening; and, (ii) whether he will seek to introduce screening based on risk factors at GP level.

Answer:

Lung cancer screening is not a formal screening programme, therefore unfortunately there is no information available on the level of clinical testing for lung cancer that is currently happening within GP practices in Northern Ireland.

The Public Health Agency do not have a population screening programme for lung cancer and it has not at this point been recommended by the UK National Screening Committee. However there is currently a pilot project for high risk lung cancers underway in the Southern Health and Social Care Trust.

Targeted screening for those at high risk of lung cancer is also being piloted in England and the results of this pilot are awaited. Consideration of the pilot programme in the Southern Health and Social Care Trust and cancer screening programmes overall will be considered in the forthcoming Cancer Strategy.