Lung Cancer: Health Education

(asked on 26th April 2019) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to raise awareness of lung cancer among people that have never smoked cigarettes.


Answered by
Seema Kennedy Portrait
Seema Kennedy
This question was answered on 7th May 2019

Public Health England (PHE) continues to run awareness campaigns focused on the symptoms of lung cancer where the messaging is relevant to both smokers and non-smokers.

For example, the PHE Be Clear on Cancer ‘Respiratory Symptoms’ campaign encourages those with a persistent cough or inappropriate breathlessness to visit their doctor, with the aim of improving earlier diagnosis of heart and lung disease, including lung cancer. The campaign has run twice nationally, in 2016 and 2017. This campaign can be viewed at the following link:

https://www.nhs.uk/be-clear-on-cancer

The precursor to this campaign centred on one main symptom, that of a persistent cough, as a possible symptom of lung cancer. This lung cancer campaign ran nationally three times, in 2012, 2013 and 2014.

The Be Clear on Cancer campaign materials, explain that although lung cancer is more common in smokers, those who have never smoked can also get the disease, including details of the number of people diagnosed with lung cancer each year. The leaflet is available at the following link:

https://campaignresources.phe.gov.uk/resources/campaigns/46/resources/1744

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