Leeds Lung Health Check

The Leeds Lung Health Check was a pioneering, multimillion-pound clinical trial funded by Yorkshire Cancer Research.

Delivered in partnership with Leeds Teaching Hospitals and the University of Leeds, it offered people at high risk of lung cancer the opportunity to be scanned for early signs of the disease.

It involved a mobile screening unit which travelled around the city providing convenient lung check-ups. People who smoke or used to smoke were invited for chest scans to check for signs of early-stage lung cancer. Other cancers such as breast, kidney and oesophageal were also discovered through these scans. 

Lung cancer is one of the most common cancers in Yorkshire with about 4,300 people diagnosed every year in the region.

Because lung cancer doesn’t always cause symptoms at an early stage, it is frequently diagnosed late when treatment options are more limited and survival rates are lower.  

During the trial, thousands of people were screened and hundreds of cancers were found at an early stage and treated successfully.

The trial was crucial in helping to inform plans for a national lung screening programme, which was announced by the UK Government in June 2023.

The government plans to roll out a national lung screening programme to the areas that have the greatest need first, with the intention of ensuring everyone aged 55 to 74 with a history of smoking has access to lung screening by 2030.

The NHS took over the running of the Leeds Lung Health Check when the trial ended in November 2024, meaning that people in Yorkshire, where lung cancer is the biggest cause of cancer deaths, will continue to have access to life-saving screening. 

When cancer is diagnosed early, it's easier to treat. While screening programmes are available for breast, cervical and bowel cancer, there was no national screening for lung cancer. This is the biggest cause of premature death in Yorkshire and it is vital to fund studies like this one to save lives in our region. The screening CT scan used by the Leeds Lung Health Check can detect lung cancer before the participant even knows it is there.

Leeds Lung Health Check was one of the largest lung screening studies in the UK and evidence from the trial is now benefitting people in Yorkshire and beyond.