The number of people being sent for cancer checks is rising fast

THE number of people being checked for suspected cancer in Leicestershire has jumped by more than a tenth in a year.

In 2018, patients had 34,232 cancer checks at University Hospitals of Leicester following an urgent referral.

That was up 15% from 29,894 checks in 2017.

NHS England attributed the rise - which has seen the number of checks top two million nationally - to new referral guidance for GPs and celebrities sharing their cancer stories encouraging people to make an appointment.

The figures include a 17% increase in the number of checks for head and neck cancers (with 3,375 in 2018), a 29% increase in checks for suspected skin cancers (6,063 checks), and a 19% increase in checks for urological cancer (3,073 checks).

However, while the number of referrals for checks is growing, people are less likely to get their hospital appointment within a fortnight.

In 2017, 94.3% of those urgently referred had their first consultant appointment at the trust within two weeks, but that had dropped to 92.7% in 2018.

The target is for 93% to see a consultant within two weeks.

Last year was the first time the NHS in England carried out more than two million checks on people who feared they might have cancer.

In 2018, patients underwent a record 2.2 million cancer checks following urgent referral by their GP, up from 1.9 million people who were seen in 2017.

The NHS attributes the rise to a number of factors, including new guidance introduced in 2015 for GPs, lowering the threshold for cancer referral and more awareness raising than ever before with high profile celebrities such as Bill Turnbull, Stephen Fry and Jeremy Bowen recently sharing their stories, leading to an increase in people checking for cancer symptoms.

NHS England’s national director for cancer Cally Palmer has said the growing number of referrals is encouraging and wants even more people to come forward if they think they are at risk.

She said: “Thanks to a greater awareness of symptoms, more people than ever before are coming forward to get checked for cancer, with over two million in just one year and record numbers of people receiving treatment.

“We want to see even more people seeking help when something is not right - catching cancer earlier when it can be treated best is crucial to providing peace of mind for patients and their families and saving more lives.

“We are rapidly driving forward the NHS Long Term Plan’s ambitions to improve dramatically the experience of millions of people across the country.”

The NHS Long Term Plan includes the introduction of a new 28-day faster diagnosis standard that will see patients diagnosed with cancer or given the all clear within four weeks.

There are also plans for the introduction of rapid diagnostic centres or ‘one stop shops’ across the country to speed up cancer diagnosis, lung scanning trucks in supermarket car parks in ten areas of the country to check those most at risk, inviting them for an MOT of their lungs, upgrading diagnostic equipment, and introducing more effective and patientfriendly tests in the bowel and cervical cancer screening programmes.