Excellence in Communications - Payers/Policymakers

Summary of work

Each year, almost 50,000 people in the UK are diagnosed with lung cancer; it is the third most common cancer and the leading cause of cancer deaths.ⁱUK lung cancer survival rates are some of the lowest in Europe.^ii,iii

There is an urgent need for action. To bring lessons from other countries back to the UK, we established an expert steering group to take evidence from European lung cancer clinicians. This led to a policy report,Gaining perspective, which was launched in Parliament in England and was shared in the devolved nations at workshops with professionals and decision-makers.

England and Scotland are now implementing these recommendations and addressing lung cancer as a public health priority with other regions to follow.

ⁱ Cancer Research UK

ⁱⁱ The Lancet, Supplement to: Allemani C, Matsuda T, et al, Global surveillance of trends in cancer survival 2000–14 (CONCORD-3): analysis of individual records for 37 513 025 patients diagnosed with one of 18 cancers from 322 population-based registries in 71 countries, 2018. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29395269. Last accessed: February 2019

ⁱⁱⁱ Hiom S et al, Lung cancer in the UK: addressing geographical inequality and late diagnosis, The Lancet, 2018. Available at: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanonc/article/PIIS1470-2045(18)30496-0/fulltext#. Last accessed: February 2019

Judges' comments

ENGINE MHP’s campaign demonstrated solid insights and strong use of data at the heart of the campaign. It had a clear strategy and rationale, delivering good outcomes. The judges liked the tailored and relevant involvement of the devolved nations, which was integral right from the start. The testimonials were authentic and of high quality and showed real buy-in to the programme. They have set-out on the right path to make a change and it looks like a great journey and the judges can’t wait to hear the next chapter.