Lung cancer patients who see a specialist nurse are twice as likely to receive treatment as those who don't, according to new research.

Figures from the NHS National Lung Cancer Audit showed that 64.8 per cent of sufferers who saw a nurse were able to receive treatment, compared to just 30.4 per cent of those who didn't. The average for England and Wales is currently just over 60 per cent.

Currently, three quarters of lung cancer patients are able to see a specialist nurse but the release of these statistics should convince those in nurse manager jobs to try and increase that figure.

It was also revealed in The Daily Telegraph that lung cancer surgery has risen by 50 per cent, although the regional differences between the proportion of patients receiving treatment ranges from 88 per cent in Mid Cheshire to 19 per cent in Hillingdon.

Alan Dobson, who is an advisor at the Royal College of Nursing, claimed that improved access to a specialist nurses could increase the figures.

Speaking to Nursing Times, he said: "If you see a specialist nurse, they're more likely to recognise the signs and be alert to them and because they have very good communication skills, they can explain to patients what treatment they need so they are more likely to accept it."