Lung cancer – 2023 patient cohort (NLCA/NATCAN)
The National Lung Cancer Audit (NLCA), part of the National Cancer Audit Collaborating Centre (NATCAN), has published an audit of the care received by people diagnosed with lung cancer in England and Wales during 2023. In addition to describing the patterns of care received, this report focuses on the overall national figures, and incorporates cancer waiting times and genomics testing.
The proportion of people diagnosed with stage 1/2 lung cancer has continued to increase… likely to reflect the introduction of the Lung Cancer Screening Programme and other early diagnosis initiatives
An important and encouraging finding from this report is that the proportion of people diagnosed with stage 1/2 lung cancer has continued to increase; in England, the proportion was 36.7% in 2023, an increase from 30.5% in 2021. For Wales, the proportion was 33.9% in 2023 and 24.0% in 2021. This increase is likely to reflect the introduction of the Lung Cancer Screening Programme in England as well other early diagnosis initiatives in England and Wales. The proportion of people with early-stage lung cancer (stage 1/2) who had curative treatment reached 80% among those with good performance status, meaning that the NLCA standard has been met for the first time since before the COVID-19 pandemic. The proportion of people with Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) who had surgery also exceeded pre-pandemic levels.
In addition to further detailed findings for each of England and Wales, this report also includes the following recommendations for improvement:
- Ensure services maximise the uptake of lung cancer screening for people aged 55 to 74 who are at high risk of lung cancer.
- Ensure providers have sufficient thoracic surgery capacity to accommodate the larger number of people with NSCLC who are candidates for curative surgery.
- Identify opportunities for increasing the proportion of people with NSCLC stage 3B-4 to have Systemic Anti-Cancer Therapy (SACT) as per NICE guidance.
- Ensure NHS hospitals have the necessary resources and capacity to meet the timelines for patients to start primary treatment.
- Ensure NHS hospitals have the necessary resources and capacity so that biomarker test results are delivered within 14 calendar days of the test being performed.
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