COVID-19 has, and continues to have, a massive impact on lung cancer patients and the organisations that support them. The GLCC recognised this and commissioned surveys of people living with lung cancer in order to gather data to help better understand the needs and challenges of patients globally.

On Friday 9 September, at the (online) IASLC World Conference on Lung Cancer 2021, Jackie Fenemore (chair of Lung Cancer Nursing UK) presented findings from the second GLCC patient experience survey. She highlighted the following:

  • During the COVID-19 pandemic, lung cancer patients globally thought there was an unnecessary delay to diagnosis.
  • Some lung cancer patients have said they did not feel as involved in the decisions about their treatment and care as they would want to be.
  • Throughout the pandemic, lung cancer patients experienced a range of emotions including feelings of anxiety, shame, fear of relapse, financial concerns and worries for loved ones.
  • The survey received 1,287 responses.
  • Improvements can be made in involving patients in decisions on their treatment and care and supporting them in the physical and emotional impact of a lung cancer diagnosis.

Shortly afterwards, it was the turn of GLCC chair, Prof Matthew Peters, to outline key findings from our global survey on the continued impact of the pandemic on patient advocacy and support organisations.

Among key points Prof Peters highlighted were:

  • Throughout the pandemic, lung cancer patients have mainly asked patient organisations for information on the COVID-19 vaccine and the impact of the virus on treatment now and in the future.
  • While patient organisations are continuing to offer digital services introduced at the start of the pandemic, some have started to reopen face-to-face services.
  • COVID-19 vaccines are available in almost four in five responding organisations’ nations.
  • Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, patient organisations have been responding to an increase in requests and evolving patient needs within limited resources and budgets.

If you missed either or both of these presentations, you can see them by logging onto the IASLC WCLC21 site; the session in question can then be found here.

They are listed in the Conference programme on Day 2 thus:

MA05*: Using Real World and Patient Reported Data to Identify Gaps and Needs for
CME Accredited
MA05.01: Patients’ Experiences During COVID-19… – J. Fenemore,
UK MA05.02: Impact of Covid-19 on Lung Cancer Care… – R. Acharya, USA
MA05.03: Considering the Continued Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic… – M. Peters, Australia
MA05.04: Discussant – A.-M. Baird, Ireland
MA05.05: Treatment Patterns in Patients With EGFR-Positive Lung Cancer… – I. Elkins, USA MA05.06: The Psychosocial Impact of Lung Cancer… – A.-M. Baird, Switzerland
MA05.07: Discussant – J. King, USA

 

Still to come at the conference: on Day 7, Christina Sit of Lung Cancer Canada will  be making a presentation on Global Perspectives on Implicit Bias in Oncology Care, along with her colleague Winky Yau.

 

 

 

 

 

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