Optimal timeframes & summary
Evidence-based guidelines, where they exist, should inform timeframes. Treatment teams need to recognise that shorter timeframes for appropriate consultations and treatment can promote a better experience for patients. Three steps in the pathway specify timeframes for care. They are designed to help patients understand the timeframes in which they can expect to be assessed and treated, and to help health services plan care delivery in accordance with expert-informed time parameters to meet the expectation of patients. These timeframes are based on expert advice from the Lung Cancer Working Group.
Timeframes for care
|
Step in pathway |
Care point |
Timeframe |
|
Presentation, initial investigations and referral |
Signs and symptoms |
Presenting symptoms should be promptly and clinically triaged with a health professional |
|
Initial investigations initiated by GP |
Patients should be provided with test results within 1 week of presenting to their GP |
|
|
Referral to specialist |
The specialist (linked to a lung cancer multidisciplinary team) appointment should take place within 2 weeks of the GP referral |
|
|
Diagnosis, staging and treatment planning |
Diagnosis and staging |
Diagnostic tests should be completed within 2 weeks of the first specialist appointment |
|
Multidisciplinary meeting and treatment planning |
All newly diagnosed patients should be discussed in an MDM, usually before treatment begins |
|
|
Treatment |
Surgery |
Treatment should begin within 6 weeks of specialist referral Medical emergencies should follow guidelines |
|
Radiation therapy |
||
|
Local ablative therapies |
||
|
Systemic therapy |
Seven steps of the optimal care pathway
Step 1: Prevention and early detection
Step 2: Presentation, initial investigations and referral
Step 3: Diagnosis, staging and treatment planning
Step 4: Treatment
Step 5: Care after initial treatment and recovery
Step 6: Managing recurrent, residual or metastatic disease
Step 7: End-of-life care
In 2019, lung cancer was the most common cause of cancer-related death and was ranked as the fifth most commonly diagnosed cancer in Australia (AIHW 2019). Diagnosis of lung cancer is generally higher for men, Indigenous Australians and people living in remote or low-socioeconomic status areas (NCCI 2019a). Over time, the age-standardised incidence rates have decreased for men but increased for women, which is attributed to past differences in the smoking habits of males and females (NCCI 2019a). While smoking is the largest single cause of lung cancer, people who have never smoked can also be diagnosed (Cancer Australia 2020b).
