Written question WQ98197
- Asked by
- Peter FoxConservative
- To be answered by
- Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
- Tabled
- Due
- Answered
- Time to answer
- 10 days
Question
What steps is the Welsh Government taking to design a clinical pathway for managing incidental findings of COPD within the new lung cancer screening programme?
Answer
Answered by Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
Emphysema is a common incidental finding on low-dose CT scans performed for lung cancer screening that can be an indicator of COPD. The national targeted lung cancer screening programme being developed by Public Health Wales will include protocols and pathways that standardise the approach to incidental findings. Significant insight has been gained from the Lung Health Check Pilot undertaken in Cwm Taf Morgannwg UHB, and from modelling work undertaken in preparation for the programme. The final clinical pathways are dependent on a number of aspects of the programme that are yet to be finalised, and form part of the ongoing work of the implementation programme.