Why we need to share ‘good practice’ to drive quality improvements in lung cancer.

Learning from others - and adapting good practice in other parts of the country to local needs - is vital to achieving optimal outcomes for lung cancer patients across the UK.

Our latest report Driving Improvements in UK Lung Cancer - Utilising Good Practice and Innovation to Deliver Optimal Care and Outcomes encourages those responsible for lung cancer care, to assess their own service - and consider how they might do better - by reviewing innovative work already going on in different parts of the country.

The report focuses on three key priority areas, with good practice examples, which are critical for driving real quality improvement:

Reducing inequalities in access to optimal and timely care e.g. a Single Queue Diagnostics System, which shares diagnostic capacity across Great Manchester, has reduced waiting times for Endobronchial Ultrasound Service (EBUS) from a median of 18 days to five.
Achieving universal access to molecular diagnostics e.g. utilising an existing local transport service for HPV test samples led to a reduction in turnaround times for genomic test samples in Torbay and Devon.
Optimising the impact of lung cancer screening e.g. collating data on the reasons why people do, and do not, engage with screening has helped Stoke-on-Trent’s Targeted Lung Health Check Programme obtain a greater understanding of local health inequalities and adapt its communications strategies accordingly.

Over the coming weeks we aim to showcase these initiatives in more detail, as well as other examples of innovation that we hope will be submitted by you in the future. Please contact us at: bestpractice@uklcc.org.uk

Professor Robert Rintoul

Clinical Lead, UKLCC Clinical Advisory Group