A report by leading lung cancer experts reveals that the main areas of lung cancer care are still “woefully inadequate”.

An umbrella group consisting of doctors, charities and private health firms called The UK Lung Cancer Care Coalition, says that UK care is far behind as compared to the rest of Europe.

They say that one-third of the patients still do not receive a biopsy to diagnose their condition, and thousands are denied life-saving surgery due to the lack of experienced specialists.

The coalition added that in some parts of UK fewer than 10 percent patients receive any form of treatment to stop the spread of their cancer.

"There are only 44 full-time equivalent specialist thoracic surgeons spread thinly over 240 multidisciplinary cancer teams across the country and many teams lack core members. Alarmingly, patients who are fit for surgery are being turned down", said Dr Mick Peake, chairman of the UKLCC's clinical advisory group.

Lung cancer is the second most common cancer in the UK and 39,000 people are diagnosed every year with this dreaded disease.

34,500 people are killed annually by lung cancer which is around one in four of all cancer deaths.