BREATHING IN A NEW ERA

A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF LUNG CANCER POLICIES ACROSS EUROPE

Conclusions and a call to action

T

his report documents the findings of the first phase of our research into European lung cancer

policy, covering findings from 11 countries. Separate country profiles for each country dive into

national findings and opportunities for improvement. In early 2020, we will publish the findings for a

further 16 countries. Already, however, interesting regional themes have emerged. Opportunities exist

across the board, and there is no country or domain with high scores across each of the indicators that

we measured. Even where individual countries may have received a high domain score, there are often

opportunities for further improvement or nuances behind the scores that may not have been captured

by our indicators.

It is worth reflecting on the limitations of the study. The use of policy scorecards inevitably involves

collapsing complex, on-the-ground situations into simple scores. Much information is lost during

the transformation and people will inevitably quibble over the scores. We have tried to remain as

transparent as possible, offering the rationale for scores and providing references where possible.

Another limitation is that one cannot measure everything in a scorecard. We followed an evidence-

based process, including the use of an advisory board, to identify key domains and informative

indicators. However, topics inevitably came up during the workshops that we had not measured or

had measured but in a way that perhaps did not capture every side of the story. We have tried to

discuss such matters in this report and added detail in the opportunities for improvement sections

of the country profiles. The advantage of using scorecards is that they offer a snapshot comparison

of strengths and weaknesses and can be a route into a wider discussion of what countries can do to

improve processes and offer better outcomes to patients.

Our findings—from both secondary and primary research—show that lung cancer must be

shunted to the top of the agenda. New and improved diagnostic, screening and treatment options are

becoming available that will help patients live longer and with a better quality of life, and decisions

need to be made about how these opportunities will be incorporated into current care pathways. In

addition, policies on awareness, prevention and health literacy can be strengthened. There really is no

reason why lung cancer should remain the most lethal cancer in Europe.

What needs to be done? Building partnerships and collaboration between national stakeholders

will promote meaningful dialogue and policy development. These include forging alliances between

ministries of health and public health, finance, social services and education; healthcare providers;

patient organisations; and industry. Although there has been a gap between political ambition and

clinical reality in the past, this gap can close. And with it needs to be the removal of stigma, which still

plagues lung cancer, in the same way that stigma hung around all cancers a few decades ago. As one

workshop participant succinctly put it, “anyone with a lung can get lung cancer”.

The key action points are: