Letters about Lung Health Checks

We are currently receiving lots of calls from patients who have received letters inviting them to a Lung Health Check despite never having been a smoker.

The letters have been sent nationally by NHS England as part of a new screening programme to improve early lung cancer detection.

If you have received a letter stating you are an ex-smoker, but have not smoked tobacco previously, please let us know via askmyGP rather than calling.

We are currently receiving lots of calls about this, and would appreciate it if people could let us know by sending an admin message through askmyGP.

We will deal with these routinely, and will get back to you once we have reviewed your records. Please be patient with us while we work through this.

This will help keep the phone lines free for patients who have urgent health needs.

About Lung Health Checks

Current and former smokers aged 55 to 74 have been invite to attend a consultation. It’s the biggest programme to improve early lung cancer detection.

More than 2,400 cancer have already been caught through the programme. Seventy-five percent of these have been at the early stages when they are most treatable.

You can find out more about target lung health checks on the NHS North East and North Cumbria website.