Thousands of people suffering from long-term coughs and chest infections may not be diagnosed with incurable lung diseases, experts say.
One in five people wait more than a year to be diagnosed with chronic lung disease, according to new research from Asthma + Lung UK.
More than half of those who sought medical help for coughs and chest infections received treatment for their immediate symptoms, but the underlying cause was not investigated at the time.
However, coughs and infections that keep coming back can be early warning signs of lung diseases such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Currently, 1.7 million people in the UK are living with COPD (which causes breathing difficulties and increases the risk of serious infections), but experts believe 600,000 people are undiagnosed.
One in five people wait more than a year to be diagnosed with chronic lung disease, new research from Asthma + Lung UK reveals
The data also shows that two in five people diagnosed with COPD do not start treatment within the recommended 18-week timeframe, and more than 6,000 wait more than a year.
And a shocking one in eight went undiagnosed for more than ten years.
If left untreated, COPD progressively worsens and increases the risk of other long-term medical conditions.
Shortness of breath can cause people to stop being as active, making them more prone to other medical problems, such as high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity and diabetes.
In the case of asthma, which affects more than 7.2 million people, an accurate and early diagnosis allows symptoms to be controlled and asthma attacks to be prevented with the correct treatment.
But despite lung disease being the third leading cause of death in the UK, there are currently no national targets to limit how long a person must wait for a diagnosis when they have symptoms.
Diana Muirhead, 60, is desperate to start treatment, having been on the waiting list for months for a spirometry test to confirm she has COPD.
The mother of four from Norfolk said she feels as though her life is “literally on hold until then”.
“I can’t work at the moment because I feel breathless and fatigued all the time, but even though an X-ray I had in January showed I probably have COPD, I can’t get treatment as it needs to be confirmed with a spirometry test,” she explained.
‘Meanwhile, I find it difficult to carry out everyday activities such as cleaning and shopping and I feel constantly exhausted because I can’t breathe properly.
‘I am concerned because the sooner COPD is treated, the better, because treatment slows its progression.
‘I feel like I’m in limbo not knowing when I’ll get my diagnosis and it’s horrible.
‘The nurse referred me for an X-ray and put me on the waiting list for a spirometry test, but told me I would have to wait ‘a long time’ because the list was so long. Now I have no idea how long I will have to wait.
“The Government should set a time limit for diagnosing lung diseases, like it does for diagnosing cancer, and ensure GPs have spirometry tests available so people can get tested straight away. Lung diseases are very serious and should be treated as such.”
The charity Asthma + Lung UK is calling on the government to provide long-term funding to GP practices to enable them to carry out lung disease screening tests, including spirometry and FeNO (fractional exhaled nitric oxide).
Currently, only half of GPs use the FeNO test, which can be vital in diagnosing asthma.
Asthma + Lung UK also wants national targets for lung disease screening to ensure no-one waits more than six weeks for a diagnostic test and that waiting lists are halved by 2028.
Chief executive Sarah Sleet said: ‘People struggling to breathe face an agonising wait for an accurate diagnosis.
‘They are being misdiagnosed, or they are being diagnosed too late, or they are not being put on the right treatment.
“As a result, the pressure on the NHS is growing ever more with more emergency admissions and hospital stays. We need lung diseases to be treated as seriously as cancer and heart disease.
‘A band-aid approach that treats symptoms, not the underlying cause, means that many people with lung problems go undiagnosed for too long.’