Somebody dies from lung disease every five minutes in the UK
In Greater Manchester, an estimated 4,500 people die from a smoking-related illness each year, a large proportion caused by lung disease. This equates to nearly 13 deaths every single day with many more people living with debilitating ill-health caused by lung disease.
Although the number of people smoking is reducing both in the UK and in Salford, in some parts of Salford 30% of people are smokers. This is having a big impact in reducing life expectancy in these areas, which is up to nine years lower for men and three years lower women than the England average.
The lung health of Salford’s population continues to perform a lot worse than the rest of the country. Before our Lung Health Check service was available there was no service in Salford that checked for early symptoms of lung disease.
The Lung Health Check Service will spot lung disease earlier and get patients the right treatment to reduce the rates of premature death and disability from lung disease in Salford. The checks aim to:
- Spot early signs of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
- Spot the early signs of lung cancer
- Reduce late lung cancer detection
- Improve lung cancer survival rates
- Increase the number of people who quit smoking
The Salford Lung Health Check Service is a pilot for smokers and ex-smokers across Salford aged 55 to 74 years who will be offered an “M.O.T” for their lungs.
Letters will be sent to everyone registered with a Salford GP identified as a current smoker or ex-smoker inviting them to attend an appointment with a Respiratory Specialist Nurse. At this appointment, patients will be asked some questions and take part in some simple, non-invasive tests.
In addition, for anybody who wants to stop smoking, on-site specialist stop smoking advisors from Salford City Council’s Health Improvement Service (HIS) will speak to patients immediately after their appointment to provide advice and support them to quit.
This Lung Health Check Service pilot also strongly supports the aim of the Greater Manchester Smoking Strategy to reduce the smoking rate across Greater Manchester to 13% by 2020. In Salford this equates to approximately 17,000 people quitting smoking.
If you have recently received a letter inviting you to book an appointment, please call 0161 206 1136 to book your free Lung Health Check. If you have any questions, please email Lung.Healthcheck@srft.nhs.uk.
You can also watch this short film featuring Salford Royal’s Consultant Respiratory Physician Dr Seamus Grundy, to talk through why the checks are important and what they entail.