NHS chiefs are urging people to take up invitations for lung cancer check-ups after hundreds were diagnosed with the disease in mobile trucks.

The NHS said that teams have diagnosed 600 people with the disease in travelling trucks, which visit convenient community sites such as supermarkets and sports centres, aiming to make it easier for people to access check-ups.

It comes as new figures show only a third (35 per cent) of patients go to their lung health check when invited by the NHS.

The NHS said those most at risk of lung cancer, like former or current smokers, are invited for a lung MOT in the mobile trucks. 

Those who are highest at risk will also be given an on-the-spot chest scan.

The trucks are especially travelling to areas of the country with some of the highest death rates from lung cancer.

Professor Peter Johnson, NHS clinical director for cancer, said: “Lung cancer can often be hard to detect at an early stage and so these checks, close to people’s homes, show how the NHS is taking action to find more people with cancer.”