Below are some frequently asked questions for GPs, whose patients will be invited to a lung health check.
All practices in the area where TLHCs are being piloted will be invited to share their list of eligible patients by signing up to a Data Sharing Agreement.
Invitations will be sent to patients by the programme; there is no involvement required from GPs in this process.
We ask that GPs encourage eligible patients to take up their TLHC invitation, as they do for existing cancer screening programmes, by explaining the benefits of the programme.
We will be providing you with a local pathway so that you can explain to the patient how the process will work. We will also offer a public FAQs document and a short briefing for you and your staff. There is also this website you can refer patients to, with Frequently Asked Questions.
We will also be providing a tool kit, developed by the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, which will support you during the rollout.
A pathway has been produced which has increased the capacity to read and report on CT scans. Low dose CT Scans will be offered at a new service at Buckland Hospital, Dover. Reporting will be done by sharing data via existing hospital systems.
We are working closely with the hospital trust involved to ensure the modelling for the programme is sustainable.
The programme has been fully funded by NHSE, who will provide training for recruited staff.
If there are other lung conditions identified, patients will be referred into the appropriate pathway.
We are working with the IG teams and Digital to ensure there are systems in place that can easily communicate with each other and offer the results on a shareable platform. Information Governance of utmost importance.
The radiologists will review the report and the lung health check team will send you and your patient the report from the findings and further management plan if necessary. This will be made as easy to read as possible with a box outlining any actions needed to support the patient.
No, the lung health checks teams will send the invitations out to minimise pressure on your practice. They will request the list of registered smokers/ex-smokers aged 55-74+364 days.
Patients will go straight into a cancer pathway directly through the hospital trusts. This will be a referral will be made by the TLHC team. Tt will not be passed back to the GP surgery, thereby avoiding unnecessary delays to patient care. However, the patient’s GP will be informed of the actions taken by the TLHC team as quickly as possible.
