Lung specialist shortage 'emergency'

Delays in diagnosis could mean delays in treatment

A dearth of chest specialists may be another reason for poor cancer survival rates in the UK, say experts.

Lung cancer is the UK's most common cancer, and one of the most lethal.

We do not have enough specialists to cope and provide optimum treatmen

Dr John Harvey, BTS

But a chronic shortage of lung specialists is making a mockery of government pledges that all suspected cases will be seen within two weeks, says the British Thoracic Society.

According to their figures, there is only one specialist chest physician for every 119,000 people in this country, compared to a European average of one per 60,000.

The shortage means that many patients suspected of having lung cancer are seen by more general physicians.

While this does not automatically mean that their care is worse, many of the advances in lung cancer treatment are recent, and it is more difficult for non-specialists to keep abreast of best practice.

Only one in 20 lung cancer patients survives five years in the UK. In the US, one in 10 live past the five year mark.

Radiotherapy machines

There are number of possible reasons for the discrepancy, including a severe shortage of both scanners and radiotherapy machines, which mean cancers may be more advanced by the time treatment starts.

A study in Glasgow, released last week, found that several patients' tumours had become inoperable by the time radiotherapy machines became available.

Some had waited four months to start courses of treatment.

Dr John Harvey, from the British Thoracic Society, said: "There is a simple equation here that the government must solve to avert another NHS crisis.

"We do not have enough specialists to cope and provide optimum treatment.

"The eventual loser from this shortfall can only be the patients - who may face a situation where they cannot see a specialist at all."

The government said it planned to double the number of specialist lung consultants - to 700 - by 2006.

But Dr Martin Partridge, the chairman of the BTS, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that unless work started now, the NHS would still be 180 chest physicians short by the end of 2005.

He said: "Lung cancer is a very important part of our work, but we also deal with asthma, emphysema and cystic fibrosis."

He said it would be very difficult to meet the government two week target with present resources.

"Chest physicians are already bending over backwards to get someone seen quickly.

"The trouble is, we have not only to see everyone who actually has lung cancer, but all those with suspected cancer."