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Mixed report for lung cancer

06/12/2007

Lung cancer care in England and Wales improved during 2006 but treatment still lags behind other countries, a new report has found.

The disease is the most common cause of death from cancer in the western world, resulting in 33,000 deaths per year in England and Wales.

Conducted by the Information Centre for Health and Social Care (IC), the study said the level of care offered falls short of that in the US and many other European countries.

Improvements were noted in the number of people who received anti-cancer treatment after their care was analysed.

Other highlights of the study include an increase in the number of patients diagnosed through a tissue biopsy, which is seen as a good indicator of overall care quality.

However the improvement in care was not consistent throughout England and Wales, with some areas performing well and others performing poorly.

Despite the average age for lung cancer diagnosis being 71 for men and 72 for women, younger people were more likely to receive anti-cancer treatment.

And although surgery is the main curative treatment for lung cancer, the number of patients going under the knife remained at nine per cent. The study found that for most patients the disease was too advanced at presentation for surgery to be possible.

This compares to 20 per cent of lung cancer patients in the US who have surgery while the European average is 26 per cent for those aged under 70 and 14 per cent for those aged 70 and above.

IC chief executive Tim Strachan said "there is still a long way to go" before lung cancer care improves to the level seen in Europe and the US.

Dr Jesme Fox, medical director of the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, said: "Lung cancer remains a devastating disease for many patients and families. At the very least they should all expect access to high quality care. Rather disturbingly, this report shows that care in England and Wales still lags behind Europe and the US. Patients have a right to expect more.

"We do, however, welcome the data made available through this report. It gives us a picture of lung cancer care across the country and we urge all those involved in treating this disease to submit data, in order that next year's report will be more complete."

Dr Mick Peake, national clinical lead for lung cancer in the Cancer Services Collaborative Improvement Programme, said the IC's study is "an important landmark in the measurement of the care of cancer patients".

"It is only by the measurement of such clinical outcomes that we can hope to systematically improve standards of care," he added.

"Lung cancer services have improved hugely in the UK over the last ten years, but there are still areas of the country where treatment could be improved - data from this audit will be used to increase efforts to carry on the process of improvement."