Untimely lung cancer care cost lives. It limits treatment options, reduces the chances of survival and causes profound distress for patients and their families. Yet in many health systems, delays persist and accountability for addressing them is limited.
Timed targets offer a practical mechanism to change this. By setting clear timeframes for diagnosis, treatment and key points in the care pathway, they reveal bottlenecks in care, create shared expectations and drive the kind of accountability that leads to sustained improvement.
Their use is growing, but inconsistently: different countries define and measure timeliness differently, and national audits that examine lung cancer care in sufficient detail remain rare. The result is a fragmented evidence base that makes it difficult to establish agreed standards or identify best practice.
Resources
Timeliness matters: improving lung cancer care with timed targets
Download the policy briefWhat timed targets can achieve
When implemented effectively, timed targets help health systems:
- accelerate the time from referral to diagnosis and from diagnosis to treatment
- identify where delays occur and address their root causes
- create accountability across the care pathway – for systems, providers and policymakers
- enable learning across countries by establishing comparable standards.
Our policy brief
Drawing on a review of the literature, case studies, and insights from Network members and other experts, our policy brief sets out what it takes to make timed targets work. It identifies three conditions for success:
- understanding who experiences untimely care and why, so these lived experiences can inform realistic, context-appropriate targets
- strengthening health system organisation to reduce delays
- building policy frameworks that make improvement sustainable.
It is designed as a resource for policymakers and health system decision-makers working to set clear targets, address resource gaps and bottlenecks, and monitor performance over time.
Matt Hickey, The Health Value Alliance, UK