Patients avoiding GPS thwart cancer success

Efforts to save lives by detecting cancer earlier have stalled because patients are fearful of wasting GPS’ time, a report has found. A Health Foundation review concluded that thousands of deaths could be avoided each year if the UK matched international cancer standards, but that progress was being hampered partly by reluctance to trouble doctors over seemingly minor symptoms. A shortage of scanners and specialist staff to operate them are also blamed.

EFFORTS to save lives by detecting cancer earlier have stalled because British patients are fearful of wasting GPS’ time, a report has found.

A major review concludes that thousands of deaths could be avoided each year if the UK matched international cancer standards, but that progress is being hampered partly by reluctance to trouble busy family doctors over seemingly minor symptoms.

The Health Foundation report says more than a fifth of patients worry about wasting their doctor’s time, while nearly half put off getting symp- toms checked because of difficulty securing an appointment.

A shortage of scanners and specialist staff to operate them are also blamed in the report by Professor Sir Mike Richards, the former national cancer director at the Department of Health.

Britain ranks 35th of 37 comparable nations for availability of CT scanners, and 31st of 36 for MRI scanners.

Sir Mike writes that the NHS is failing to meet its long-term promise to close the gap to other similar countries.

Theresa May said this year that she wants the proportion of cancer patients whose disease is diagnosed early to rise to three in four. However, the report found that the rate of improvement had all but stalled between 2015 and 2017, hovering at around 50 per cent.

Targets to ensure swift treatment are increasingly being missed. Nearly one in 11 people currently waits more than two weeks to be seen by a cancer specialist after an urgent referral.

This year, the target for 93 per cent of people to be seen within two weeks was missed consistently between April and September for the first time in a decade.

Sir Mike said “thousands of deaths could be avoided” every year if the NHS achieved its aim of matching the best in the world for cancer survival.

“This is the equivalent of a jumbo jet of people falling from the sky every two weeks,” he said.

Sir Mike said the NHS must change the way care was organised to ensure patients were diagnosed quickly

According to the report, previous efforts to encourage GPS to refer more patients early for suspected cancer have been stymied by managers trying to keep costs down. Limited capacity in hospital has also held back referrals.

This month, officials announced a wide-ranging review of cancer screening services following scandals where women in need of breast screening and cervical checks were not contacted.

It is estimated that between 135 and 270 women may have died as a result of the breast-screening failure.

NHS England said two million urgent GP referrals were now seen per year – 500,000 more than in 2015 – and record numbers of people were receiving treatment. A spokesman said: “Cancer survival rates are at their highest ever and further work to ensure faster and earlier diagnosis and treatment is already under way.”