A KEY health check programme being trialled in Thurrock has resumed after being suspended because of the latest Covid-19 lockdown.

In December Nub News reported on the start of the Lung Health Check programme which involves specific patients being invited to an initial remote lung health check. Those patients found to have a high-risk score following that check will be invited to take up the CT scan.

Thurrock has one of the highest rates of death from lung cancer in the UK and some of the highest rates of smoking with over 10% of the local population labelled as smokers.

The programme has now restarted and patients aged between 55 and under 75 years old, who have ever smoked, will be invited by their GP to be screened.

The Lung Health Checks team will be re-contacting patients who were invited for a lung health check in December and were booked in for initial checks or scans before the programme was paused, and the next wave of patients will also be contacted from practices in or close to Tilbury.

Eligible patients will be offered an immediate low-dose CT scan to rule out any early cancers. The checks may also identify other potentially serious conditions, in which case patients will be referred back to their GP if necessary.

For more information and videos on the lung health checks scanning experience click on this link.