NHS screening units should be set up near offices and shops so workers can have checks for breast and bowel cancer in their lunch breaks, the head of a national review has said.

Prof Sir Mike Richards also said patients must be able to book smear tests and mammograms on their smartphones as easily as buying a train ticket.

The former cancer tsar said Britain could not tackle its poor survival rates from cancer - languishing at the bottom of international league tables - without a radical overhaul of the way services are run.

Sir Mike has been commissioned by health officials to lead a review of screening programmes following a series of scandals and growing concern about a decline in uptake of the checks.

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, he signalled that it will call for sweeping reforms of the way services are accessed, and an upgrade of “woefully poor” diagnostic services.

“One of the things we really need to do is promote convenience; offering more out of hours appointments - places you can get your screening done at 8pm - and services nearer to where people work so that they can do it in their lunch break,” he said.