“Lung disease brings untold suffering to millions of children and adults in the UK” says Dame Helena Shovelton the chief executive of British Lung Foundation.

The lung foundation (BLF) has launched “Breathe Easy Week” to highlight the problems faced by people with lung conditions such as lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cystic fibrosis and asthma.

It says the UK has one of the worst records on respiratory disease in Europe, with a “postcode lottery” for care and a shortage of specialist lung doctors in some areas.

It is calling for more research into lung disease, alongside with new national standards for COPD, asthma and sleep apnoea care and treatment.

Dame Helena Shovelton, the BLF’s chief executive, welcomed Britain’s ban on smoking, but said other important areas needed to be improved.

“Lung disease brings untold suffering to millions of children and adults in the UK,” she said. “Yet it is the poor relation when it comes to medical research and death rates have seen little improvement over the past 20 years.”

More than half of those who answered the survey said that they lived in fear of an attack of breathlessness, while a third said that they could not play with their children or grandchildren because of the effects of their illness.

“Too often respiratory services are ending up at the bottom of the pile in relation to other health areas” says Professor John McFarlane of the British Thoracic Society

Some said they could not run, dance or even take holidays, while 16% said that their breathlessness stopped them having sex with their partners.

However, 43% of those who responded said there was a postcode lottery of treatment, and wanted it ended, and 35% suggested that a shortfall of specialist respiratory radiologists, nurses and physiotherapists needed to be addressed.

The survey also revealed problems accessing community respiratory services, and pulmonary rehabilitation.

From:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6735387.stm

So having gone through the stress of given up smoking with the extension of bliar’s nanny state into just about everywhere new lung patients will be delighted to learn that they are low down on labour’s priority health funding list.

Health Direct on May 15 07- Fears over NHS cancer drug costs blocked by NICE when cancer doctors have told the BBC they fear the NHS will not be able to afford the new generation of cancer drugs.

Specialists are already arguing that patients may have to pay for more drugs themselves, with the issue becoming pressing as new drugs are developed. But some patients offering to pay for a cancer drug are being told they would have to meet all their care costs.

Specialists like Nick James, professor of clinical oncology in Birmingham, believe the gap between what the NHS can fund and what is available is going to get bigger.

A list of “Wonder drugs” available in Scotland but not England and Wales:
- Tarceva, a lung cancer drug. Because it targets only specific cells, it does not have the damaging side effects of other forms off chemotherapy. It is administered by tablet.
- Velcade, a treatment for the aggressive bone marrow cancer multiple myeloma. The drug can extend life for up to seven years. Multiple myeloma kills 3,000 people a year.
- The Alzheimer’s drugs Aricept, Exelon, and Reminyl are available only to patients in England with advanced symptoms, not with the disease at its early stages as in Scotland. Doctors say the drugs significantly improve the quality of life of patients, but England’s drugs regulator argues they are not effective enough. Campaigners are trying to overturn the ruling in the High Court.
- Alimta, used for mesothelioma, which affects the lining of the lungs, and lung cancer, was approved in Scotland in August 2005. It costs about £8,000 to treat a patient. Supporters argue that the side effects of other drugs prolong stays in hospital.
- Gliadel, which extends the lives of patients with brain tumours, is implanted in patients at a cost of £5,000 a time. It was approved in Scotland in December 2005.