AQW 34876/22-27

Mr Stewart Dickson
Alliance Party
East Antrim

Tabled Date: 06/11/2025
Answered On Date: 21/11/2025
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Health to detail the rational for Northern Ireland remaining the only UK region without a lung cancer screening programme or pilot, despite evidence from the UK National Screening Committee and the Northern Ireland Cancer Registry that many cases are diagnosed through emergency presentations which are associated with poorer outcomes.

Answer:

As stated in the three-year Health and Social Care Plan, it is intended that by April 2027, subject to additional funding, to have a targeted lung screening programme in Northern Ireland.

We are at the early stages of scoping out what the requirements of the new programme for Northern Ireland will be. This requires a significant amount of work on the supporting pathways (including call/recall, additional diagnostics, workforce, pathways for incidental findings and treatment services) to be undertaken and with consideration to the symptomatic pathways.