'Mega lungs' display to raise cancer awareness

A set of 12ft (3.65m) "mega lungs" will be displayed in a shopping centre to raise awareness of lung cancer.

Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation is working with the local NHS to bring the inflatable lungs to Peterborough's Queensgate shopping centre on Saturday.

The event will also highlight the NHS lung cancer screening programme, which is being rolled out across Cambridgeshire in the spring, starting in Peterborough and Huntingdon.

Current and ex-smokers aged 55-74 will be invited to book a free NHS lung cancer screening.

NHS staff from across Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Integrated Care System (ICB) will work alongside the Roy Castle team on the day to give shoppers advice on how to keep their lungs healthy, including support to stop smoking.

Lung cancer causes more deaths than any other cancer in the UK. There are often no signs or symptoms of lung cancer at an early stage.

Dr Robert Buttery, consultant respiratory physician at Royal Papworth Hospital & Hinchingbrooke Hospital, said: "We know that screening for lung cancer will improve survival from this deadly disease.

"Unfortunately, we know that at present most lung cancers are identified at a relatively late stage, when a curative treatment such as surgery or intensive radiotherapy is not possible.

"But, CT screening will now pick up lung cancers at a much earlier stage of the disease."

Paula Chadwick, chief executive of the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, added: "We need to lose the stigma and perceptions around lung cancer and be more open about it.

"It's so important that everyone who is invited for screening takes up the opportunity because it really could save their life."

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