The BTS says patients are not getting the care they need

The society says the NHS in Wales has fewer than half the European average of these medical experts working in the field.

In some areas of the country, patients with lung cancer and tuberculosis have to travel miles to have a consultation, with consultant vacancies remaining unfilled.

At its annual meeting in Cardiff on Thursday the BTS is warning that what it calls a "critical shortage" is seriously affecting patient care.

Currently there are no permanent chest physicians in Caerphilly, Neath, Llanelli, Haverfordwest or Aberystwyth.

According to the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), Wales needs 86 consultants to serve the population.

At the moment the health system operates with only 27% of the permanent consultants needed, or one per 126,200 people.

The European average is one per 60,000.

The eventual loser is the patient, many of whom can't even see a specialist in their closest hospital Dr Andrew Leonard

Dr Ian Campbell, president of the BTS in Wales and chest specialist at Llandough Hospital, Penarth, said consultants leaving the medical profession were not being replaced quickly enough.

"We are losing consultants early and we are not training enough junior doctors for the number of posts coming up," he said.

"Consultants are finding the pressure on them too great and they are going."

Urgent

BTS manpower committee chairman Dr Andrew Leonard said the problem had to be tackled.

"This situation is beginning to be addressed, with the Welsh assembly recently creating four new trainee posts, but we need a lot more in order to help patients who are suffering with lung disease," he said.

"In Wales where you often have one consultant working in a hospital, and that person retires, it leaves a gaping hole in the service.

"We need to make sure we have adequate new blood who will become the chest consultants of the future.

"A third of our current consultant posts are unfilled by permanent staff at the present, but this is set to get a lot worse."

Dr Leonard said lung disease was the second-biggest killer in Wales and the shortage of specialists was putting a huge strain on the health system.

"The eventual loser is the patient, many of whom can't even see a specialist in their closest hospital," he added.

"We're in urgent need of funding for more trainees to care for Welsh patients with lung disease."