Minister's answer As stated in the three-year Health and Social Care Plan, it is intended that by April 2027, subject to additional funding, to have a targeted lung screening programme in Northern Ireland. The aim of this new targeted screening programme is to improve earlier diagnosis. If the individual has a higher risk of developing cancer, they will be offered a low dose Computerised Tomography (CT) of their lungs.

Minister's answer Reducing health inequalities is one of my key areas of focus and shortening the period of life spent in ill-health will help to reduce pressures on our health services and improve the quality of life for many of our population Smoking is one of the key drivers of health inequalities in NI – with the smoking death rate in the most deprived communities twice as high as in the least deprived communities. Similarly, the NI Cancer Registry published statistics in

Minister's answer As stated in the three-year Health and Social Care Plan, it is intended that by April 2027, subject to additional funding, to have a targeted lung screening programme in Northern Ireland.   We are at the early stages of scoping out what the requirements of the new programme for Northern Ireland will be. This requires a significant amount of work on the supporting pathways (including call/recall, additional diagnostics, workforce, pathways for incidental find

Minister's answer The Department of Health facilitates access for patients to clinical trials through the work of the Health and Social Care (HSC) research and development division in the Public Health Agency (PHA). The division oversees participation in UK-wide clinical governance and trial approval processes. In addition, it funds core research infrastructure, which, in turn, supports access to clinical trials. That includes the Northern Ireland Clinical Research Network, a

Minister's answer The consultation on Northern Ireland’s first Climate Action Plan recently closed and I want to express my gratitude to the 224 individuals, businesses and organisations who provided consultation responses and to the approximately 700 people who attended the wide range of consultation events across Northern Ireland. It is important that we take the appropriate time to consider these valuable insights and that the views of consultees are incorporated into the