YORKSHIRE Cancer Research has announced a £7m investment in initiatives designed to improve the outcome of lung cancer – the region’s leading cause of premature death.

The investment is part of the charity’s wider strategy to ensure 2,000 more people living in Yorkshire survive cancer every year by 2025.

Around 4,500 people are diagnosed with lung cancer in Yorkshire every year and more than half of those are diagnosed when their cancer is very advanced.

Some of the funding - £5.2m – will be invested in what will be the UK’s largest lung cancer screening trial. Screening will be carried out in mobile vans which will travel out to communities.

Other funding will be invested in research and community health campaigns.

Dr Kathryn Scott, interim chief executive at Yorkshire Cancer Research, said: “We are extremely excited to announce this significant investment in lung cancer and early diagnosis.

"These projects are the result of an extensive process, involving expert advice from the country’s very best researchers, to determine how the charity can have the biggest possible impact on cancer survival rates in Yorkshire.

“The five successful projects will involve thousands of people and patients across our region, tackling some of the biggest challenges in the diagnosis and treatment of a disease that kills around 14,000 people in Yorkshire every year.

"They will also bring expertise into the region from some of the best cancer research centres in the country.

"We are incredibly grateful to all our supporters for making this investment possible.”