The Department of Health (DH) has called on pharmacists to play a "crucial" role in promoting the early diagnosis of lung cancer as part of Public Health England's Be Clear on Cancer campaign.

As part of the campaign, which will run across TV, radio, print and organised events from July 2 to mid August, pharmacists have been asked to identify men and women aged over 50 who have been coughing for three weeks and encourage them to report the symptoms to their doctor.

The DH said pharmacists were well positioned to help patients monitor potential cancer symptoms because they sold nicotine-replacement products and often provided smoking-cessation services. People who smoke or have previously smoked have an increased risk of developing lung cancer, with tobacco causing 80 per cent of cases in the UK, it added.

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	The campaign will run alongside health secretary Jeremy Hunt's call to reduce the number of avoidable deaths from the five major causes by 30,000 before 2020. These five diseases – heart disease, respiratory disease, stroke, cancer and liver disease – claim the lives of 150,000 people aged under 75 each year in England, according to a DH report.

An estimated 1,300 deaths from lung cancer could be avoided each year if survival rates in England matched the best in Europe, the DH said.

Pharmacy teams played an important part in the early diagnosis of the disease, said Westminster GP Afsana Safa, who was involved with the Be Clear On Cancer pilot scheme. "I was fortunate to work closely with local pharmacy teams. They successfully identified and signposted appropriate customers and integrated this into their daily work," Dr Safa said.

North of Tyne LPC community pharmacy development lead Ann Gunning backed the campaign and encouraged all pharmacy staff, especially those selling over-the-counter medicines, to keep a look out for those customers and patients most at risk.

Posters, leaflets and support packs to promote the campaign can be ordered free of charge from orderline.dh.gov.uk or 0300 1231 002.