6 December 2021
COVID has had an enormous impact across the world. In the UK, it has cost premature deaths and left a devastating impact on many people’s lives. The pandemic has also had a huge impact on healthcare delivery. As a consequence, the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Respiratory Health (APPG) decided to look at the impact of COVID on respiratory health services in the UK and on the NHS ambitions for lung cancer care and outcomes. They decided to concentrate the inquiry on the post-COVID recovery and chose to investigate lung cancer in particular as even short delays to referrals or treatment can have a large impact on patients.
The report considers the key challenges identified by the respondents to the request for evidence, in addition to carefully considering the opportunities for progress and putting forward recommendations for the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to consider.
To reflect the views within the lung cancer community, the APPG invited clinicians, professional bodies, the DHSC and its executive bodies, patient advocacy groups and patients themselves to submit evidence for our inquiry and were delighted at the level of response with over 30 organisations and individuals submitting evidence.
The report concludes that serious political intent is needed to not only restore lung cancer services to pre-COVID levels but to take it further and drive improvement to patient outcomes beyond expected levels. The APPG believe that there are a number of ways that this can take place quickly and easily. The report states that the roll-out of a full lung cancer screening programme across all four nations will do more to improve lung cancer survival than any other intervention. This valuable report makes, in total, 16 wide ranging recommendations. The full report can be accessed here: