General News
3 October, 2025
Call the doctor with Dr Felix Ritson: Lung screening
Regular columnist for the Mail-Times Dr Felix Ritson, has good news about early detection screening for lung cancer available in Australia since July. Enjoy!
Australia has become one of the first countries in the world to introduce a lung cancer screening program.
As of July this year, eligible Australians can have a CT scan of their chest to detect early-stage lung cancer, free of charge.
This will save lives.
Whilst lung cancer is the 5th most common cancer in Australia, it is the most deadly.
This is partly because lung cancer is often detected too late. If the cancer is caught early, most can be successfully treated.
So who is eligible for screening? You must be between 50 and 70 years ago, and either be currently smoking or have smoked in the past.
If this applies to you, I strongly suggest you make an appointment with a GP to discuss screening.
Your GP will ask you questions to determine if you have symptoms that suggest you have lung cancer.
If you have these symptoms, such as coughing up blood or significant sweating at night and weight loss, then you won't be referred for the screening test, but will have more appropriate investigations instead.
Your GP will also ask about your smoking history.
If you haven’t smoked at all in the past 10 years, or only smoked for a few years, then quit, then you may not be eligible for the screening scan.
My advice is that if you’ve smoked at all, then talk to your GP about screening.
Any radiology service with a CT scanner can perform the test, which includes Nhill, Stawell, and Horsham.
The federal government is funding this program, and hence there should be no out-of-pocket cost for consumers.
It is programs like this that make me proud to live in and be an Australian.
Australia has an incredibly good health care system.
Whilst it would be impossible to have a health care system that meets everyone's needs, our system does it better than almost every other country on the planet.
Particularly when it comes to preventative and public health.
Federal government programs have us on track to be one of the first countries to eliminate Hepatitis C, and on track to be the first country to eliminate Cervical Cancer.
Australia has exceedingly low rates of Tuberculosis thanks to stringent immigration health policies.
Despite our blistering sunshine, our Slip, Slop, Slap campaign has become so effective that there are calls for Australians to actually get more sunshine (just NEVER get burnt).
We are envied by other countries for our strong approach to reducing smoking and vaping.
Australia has some of the longest life expectancies on the planet.
So let's make the most of our world-class public health services.
If you are 50 to 70 years old, and are, or ever have been, a smoker, make sure you don't have a slowly growing lung cancer that is currently treatable, and book a GP appointment.