Pilot scheme to tackle Portsmouth lung cancer rate heralded as a 'game changer' with increase in treatable cases

The free Lung Health Check from the NHS is being trialed across the city specifically due to the high rate of lung cancer among residents.

The trial has been hailed a ‘a life-saver’ and a ‘game-changer’ because more people are being treated – but a quarter of eligible residents are missing out.

More than 8,000 former and current smokers, aged 55 to 74, living in Portsmouth have been invited to take part in the programme in order to increase earlier diagnoses.

Now, doctors are seeing a rise in curable cases – jumping from 30 per cent to 80 per cent, according to Dr Alex Hicks, lung cancer lead and respiratory consultant at Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust.

Dr Hicks said: ‘This is such a fantastic programme because we can identify lung cancer at an earlier point and offer a cure.

‘In my clinics before the programme, I would see only 30 per cent of cases where I could offer that patient a cure, with this programme I can offer 80 per cent of patients a cure which is a complete game changer.’

More than 24,000 people in Portsmouth will be offered the check over the next two years.

But more than a quarter of those who have been invited already have not responded or opted out of the programme.

One Portsmouth resident said his life has been saved thanks to the pilot scheme - and he is calling on others to take up the offer.

John Rochester, 74, was diagnosed with lung cancer following a free Lung Health Check from Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust.

The Royal Navy veteran, who smoked for nearly four decades, had surgery to remove the lung cancer – and is now back to his gardening.

John said: ‘It really is amazing how quick it has all been sorted. I got the letter in the summer inviting me to the free Lung Health Check at the Rodney Road Centre in Fratton, then I had a follow-up scan and was told I had lung cancer.

‘I had surgery and I have been told I won’t need any follow up treatment.

John added: ‘I would really encourage anyone who gets offered this check to take it up because it can save your life.

‘I have been telling my neighbours and anyone who walks past me while I am gardening to go because it is so important. People never think it will be them, but it can be and it is better that it is caught early.’

If you have missed your free Lung Health Check appointment or think you should have received an invitation letter, please call 023 9228 2625.

The council is running a free scheme to help people give up smoking, with residents praising the project for keeping them fitter and saving them hundreds of pounds amid the cost of living crisis.

Residents can contact Portsmouth City Council to find out more about the Wellbeing Service by calling 023 9229 4001.