Lung Cancer Won't Wait

Building resilience in lung cancer screening and diagnostics based on lessons from the pandemic

Institute Report

Jun 15, 2021

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关于报告

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on lung cancer screening and diagnostics has been profound, and advances in treatment and development of new technologies have been severely curtailed through this period. This report looks at how cancer screening and diagnostic services were affected around the world and considers some of the actions that have been taken to tackle the difficulties – and the promise they hold for future efforts.

报告摘要

The report provides a view to the future and what will be needed to reduce the backlog of patients and to resume services effectively, taking into account the ‘new normal’ and the likelihood that COVID-19 will continue to be present even when the pandemic is over. It considers how we can do this effectively and acknowledges the value of technology and innovations in diagnosis and treatment which are currently being developed, and how they can help to ensure that services are rebuilt more effectively. Awareness campaigns, telemedicine, primary and community care, and collaboration will also be of ongoing critical importance.

The report also finds that the opportunity to use the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as a way to accelerate positive change is universally recognised.

Key Findings

Exhibit 1: Oncologists' Caseload Percentage Caseload vs Pre-COVID-19 Phase

Covid-19-19对肿瘤学的直接影响很大，许多服务被暂停或减少。肿瘤学家报告说，立即减少了案件量的数字，并且几乎一年后仍会感受到这种影响。

The pressures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic加剧了现有的诊断能力挑战that lung cancer services face.
The introduction of additional infection control measures, including the usage of personal protective equipment, preadmission testing, increased scanner cleaning, and separation of COVID-19 negative and positive patient flows, meant that thetime required per diagnostic scan almost doubled(UK). This means that patients are not only presenting late but also take longer to progress through the diagnostic pathway. As referrals are increasing, addressing the considerable backlog of outpatient appointments with half of the pre-COVID diagnostic capacity is likely to lead to considerable bottlenecks within lung cancer services.

图3：肿瘤学家调查有关COVID-19引起的患者护理影响的回答

Increased demand from the pandemic and reduced capacity due to staff shielding and redeployment is putting further压力已经伸展的劳动力。Investment in diagnostic capacity will only lead to improvements if there are sufficient levels of staff to carry out the procedures. In addition to this, oncologists report that patients have had new and different needs which have put additional strain on their time. Even as recently as February, this effect was still being felt.