Lung Cancer causes more deaths than any other cancer in the United Kingdom. It is commonly diagnosed too late due to there often being no symptoms at the earlier stages.

Targeted Lung Health Checks can help find issues early, often before symptoms occur, and are offered to people aged 55 to 74 who are current or former smokers. The programme provides mobile clinic units across Greater Manchester which move to different areas in convenient community locations such as supermarkets and community centres. These Lung Health Checks are a holistic approach to screening delivery.

To date, the programme has proved an effective way in detecting lung cancer earlier with approximately 79% of tumours being diagnosed at stage one or two. The programme will also help to identify other conditions earlier, meaning more participants can receive support and treatment.

The screening programme offers a unique opportunity to embed research into new diagnostic tests for lung cancer into the clinical service. The Health Innovation Accelerator programme supports the delivery of this research and collaborations with interested external industrial and academic partners.

Lung Cancer is known to be more prevalent in deprived communities, and the Lung Cancer Screening project through the Health Innovation Accelerator programme aims to address inequalities and improve the early diagnosis of lung cancer in these communities.

Through this project, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT) and Health Innovation Manchester with partners seek to facilitate research into diagnosis of lung cancer and improve access to both screening and research to underserved communities by understanding and co-designing approaches to raise awareness and education through tailored communication and engagement strategies.

Partners:

The GM Targeted Lung Health Check Programme is delivered by Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT) and the Greater Manchester Cancer Alliance. The research activity which takes places onboard the mobile units is delivered by Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT).

As part of this programme, two industry partners are involved in supporting Health Innovation Manchester with the patient and public engagement aspect of this project to increase uptake in the screening, alongside other research related scoping. These include:

• Mind Field Advertising (Innovate UK partner)
• By Gamers for Gamers Ltd (Innovate UK partner)

The Health Innovation Accelerator

This project is delivered as part of a series of projects that looks to address Greater Manchester’s major morbidities for the Advanced Diagnostics Accelerator (ADA), part of the Health Innovation Accelerator. The Health Innovation Accelerator has been established to rapidly improve the diagnosis and treatment of disease across the 2.8m Greater Manchester population.

The Health Innovation Accelerator encompasses two projects, the Advanced Diagnostics Accelerator and the DEVOTE programme, delivered through a partnership between Health Innovation Manchester, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT), The University of Manchester, and industry partners.

This project is part-funded by the Greater Manchester Innovation Accelerator programme. Led by Innovate UK on behalf of UK Research and Innovation, the pilot Innovation Accelerators programme is investing £100m in 26 transformative R&D projects to accelerate the growth of three high-potential innovation clusters – Glasgow City Region, Greater Manchester, and West Midlands. Supporting the Government’s levelling-up agenda, this is a new model of R&D decision making that empowers local leaders to harness innovation in support of regional economic growth and help attract private R&D investment and develop future technologies.