Thousands of victims suffering from a fatal lung condition are being left to cope without treatment because doctors are failing to spot the illness.

GPs misdiagnose 35 per cent of patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) – a terminal condition which causes irreversible scarring of the lungs.

People with IPF live just three to four years on average after the condition takes hold, a worse prognosis than most cancers.

Yet 54 per cent of patients wait at least six months to be diagnosed and 20 per cent endure a delay of more than two years, the report reveals.

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