Date[DATE]

Dear [INSERT MP NAME HERE]

I am writing to you because we need your help to tackle a deadly threat to our community. There’s a killer out there that’s claiming almost 100 lives each day. 36,000 a year.

It can affect anyone; men and women, young and old, smokers and non-smokers. It’s a tough and relentless enemy. Yet if we spot it soon enough, we can save many of those lives. So it’s time to make a real difference. Time to tackle lung cancer - the UK’s biggest cancer killer.

More people die from this disease than from breast, prostate and pancreatic cancers COMBINED –across Scotland, and right here in your constituency.

Yet up to 73% of lung cancer patients could survive at least five years if diagnosed at the earliest stage(compared to under 10% of people diagnosed with the most advanced stage of the disease when curative treatment is much less likely to be possible).*

A major problem is that people who have lung cancer may not experience any symptoms for a long time; they often don’t appear until the cancer has reached an advanced stage.

This is a dreadful situation, one we have to CHANGE – and you can help by signing this petition.

In England, the NHS is taking steps to address this issue. Pilot schemes involving lung health check programmes are running and NHSE aims to roll out similar schemes across the whole nation under the 2018/19 Planning Guidance. Surely we in Scotland also deserve every chance to live longer?

As James Brokenshire MP, latterly the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, knows through personal experience, the most effective curative treatment for lung cancer is surgery. He went to his GP at the first sign of trouble. Within weeks, lung cancer was diagnosed and surgically removed. He’s now recovered and has resumed his career.

The key is EARLY DETECTION - but it’s far from easy. A national lung health check will help to significantly improve the number of people diagnosed with lung cancer at an earlier stage.

So I’m asking YOUto back me in calling for the implementation of a national lung health check scheme in Scotland to find lung cancer much earlier when it can be treated effectively.

Like you, I’m sure, I believe strongly in social justice.

[You may want to insert your own reason for backing our campaign here]

This is why I support Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, the charity dedicated to beating lung cancer.

It built the first lung cancer research lab in the UK, played a key role in the introduction of the ban on smoking in public places and campaigns tirelessly to ensure that lung cancer remains firmly ‘on the map’ in terms of public health policy.

That’s a strong track record – but there remains more to do. Much more.

The Foundation fundeda pilot schemein Nottingham to check the lung health of people who are at the highest risk, and it’s already shown its value, detecting several cases of lung cancer and other serious illnesses.

Bill Simpson, a former soldier, a husband and a father, was invited to take part. He went to his GP and was offered a CT scan in a van parked in his own neighbourhood. He was found to have Stage 1 lung cancer. He too has had curative surgery and is now looking forward to enjoying many more happy years with his family.

As these stories prove, we now have the means to detect lung cancer early. We CAN make that difference. We CAN save lives. The project in Nottingham and similar schemes in other cities have demonstrated clearly the VALUE of this type of early detection.

We want the government to deliver on its commitment to roll out similar Lung Health Check schemes across the whole of the UK.

For too long, people with lung cancer have been ignored and forgotten, now it’s time to make lung cancer a priority, to help the people it affects – mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, grandparents, great-grandparents, friends and colleagues. These people matter.

So pleasesign our petitionto support the roll out of a national lung health check and give people the best chance to beat lung cancer. Remember to share on social media (Facebook, Twitter etc) too.

I hope WE can depend on YOU - #Let’s Roll!

Web-link:

Yours sincerely,

[INSERT YOUR NAME HERE]

[INSERT YOUR ADDRESS HERE]

*Statistics from the UK Lung Screening Trial -