Chest Disease Patients ‘Better Off Having Cancer’

Patients fighting killer chest complaints in Scotland would be better off if they suffered from cancer because services are so neglected, according to a charity. While Scotland has the highest rates of respiratory illness in the UK, it is the only country not developing a strategy to tackle the problem, said the British Lung Foundation Scotland.

More than 1000 Christmas cards will be posted to Health Minister Andy Kerr calling for national standards for the treatment of patients with lung conditions known collectively as COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease).

The foundation says that while death tolls from other illnesses such as cancer and heart disease are dropping, more people are being killed every year by this disorder.

Scottish Executive officials estimate that almost 100,000 people see their GP every year about COPD, which encompasses chronic bronchitis and emphysema.
The illness claims 4500 lives annually. However, access to care across Scotland is said to be a postcode lottery.

Dr Robin Stevenson, consultant respiratory physician and chair of British Lung Foundation Scotland and Northern Ireland, said: “Our point is that for many of these other diseases there are provisions to support patients, whereas COPD people are right at the bottom of the socio-economic gradient and they have virtually no support.

“It is much better to have cancer than COPD. Cancer patients have Macmillan nurses, all these hospices and people fall over backwards to be nice to them.”
Andrew Powrie-Smith, the Scottish head of the charity, added: “I had a patient tell me ‘I wish I had cancer’ because then she would get access to services, then she could get a palliative care nurse at home, she could get access to psychological support. I thought ‘we need to do something’.”

Currently, it said, there is virtually no palliative care specifically for COPD patients; access to rehabilitative exercise classes, one of the most effective forms of treatment, is patchy; and policies for supplying sufferers with portable oxygen varies.

Mr Powrie-Smith said: “Health boards have clinical standards for some disease areas and they have national strategies like cancer plans, and then they are given a budget with which to go and do things. COPD is always going to fall by the wayside in comparison to these other disease areas. But the prevalence, cost to the NHS and death rate from COPD mean it is a huge area not to have standards.”

Dr Stevenson said: “The big problem is that there is no infrastructure in society to help these people cope with their disease better.”

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Executive said: “We have been working with the British Lung Foundation to identify parts of Scotland where COPD managed clinical networks are being developed, including the Forth Valley and the Borders. More than 90% of COPD cases are associated with smoking. The smoking ban introduced earlier this year will help to reduce diagnosis of the disease.”