Sweden: Lung Cancer Country Profile
Summary scorecard
Domain Austria Belgium Finland France Netherlands Norway Poland Romania Spain Sweden UKLung cancer
is a strategic
priorityH
Lung cancer
is a public
health issueMH
Lung cancer
is a race
against timeH
Lung cancer
is at a
crossroadsH
Lung cancer
is a focus for
researchMH
KeyLow Moderately low Moderate Moderately high HighSponsored by
Sweden performs strongly across all five domains, scoring ‘high’ throughout except for the second and fifth domains where it
scores ‘moderately high’. High scores are due to having comprehensive guidelines incorporating fast-tracking suspected patients
with timeframes for diagnostic referral, rapid referral to treatment, good use of histological testing and availability of treatment
and referral pathways for supportive and palliative care. The second domain scores slightly lower due to no evidence based
approaches to screening and not having patient organisations involved in HTAs. While scoring well overall, there are some things
Sweden can do to improve scores, including the development of a lung cancer specific control plan, ensuring greater involvement
of lung cancer patient organisations and improving smoking cessation programmes. We discuss opportunities for improvement at
the end of this country profile.
Implementation of the National Cancer Control Plan in 2009 led to the establishment of regional cancer centres. While funding is
provided by the Swedish government, the government is not responsible for healthcare. Rather, there is a decentralised approach
and county councils are responsible for the delivery of care. Consequently, each regional cancer centre has its own cancer control
plan. Nevertheless, a unified national approach via a national cancer control plan may help to ensure equity of provision, and in
June 2019 the Government announced an investment of half a billion SEK on cancer care. Workshop participants reported that the
National Board of Health and Welfare is currently investigating how a lung cancer screening programme can be implemented in
Sweden. Also discussed was regional variation in care: for example, there is significant variation between the country ’s 21 regions
in referral timelines from primary to specialised care.