Tories attack new one-week cancer rule

06 Oct 09

Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced proposals last week for GPs to have direct access to diagnostic tests for patients they think might have cancer, with the aim of guaranteeing results within a week of the GP appointment.

He revealed £1bn in funding is to be invested to buy new equipment to provide over 1.1 million ultrasound tests, CAT scans and MRI scans a year.

The proposals mean that when GPs fear a patient’s symptoms may be cancer, they should refer for diagnostic tests within seven days.

The ‘early diagnosis guarantee’ would be in addition to the current target for patients with suspected cancer to be seen by a specialist within two weeks of being referred by their GP.

Any patient who fails to receive their test results within a week will be entitled to be seen elsewhere, either in a different NHS hospital or privately.

Mr Brown told delegates at the Labour conference that the proposal would mean diagnostic tests being carried out and results given to patients ‘often on the same day’.

But the Conservatives have attacked the proposals for setting clinicians more top-down targets.

A spokesperson told Pulse: ‘It’s extremely questionable whether this pledge would work. Targets such as these divert funds away from where they are needed. We would like to see waiting times go down, but we will not set mandates or tie the hands of the profession with top-down targets.’

GPs were also divided over the proposals.

Dr William Hamilton, a GP and a researcher in cancer diagnosis at the University of Bristol, said increased access to diagnostic tests would ‘relieve pressure on two-week clinics’.

‘Ovarian cancer is the perfect example,’ he said. ‘Most symptoms are low risk, so GPs currently either put them on a waiting list for months, or try and wangle a two-week referral. The proposals won’t save money, but may save lives.’

But Dr Nick Brown, a GP in Chippenham, Wiltshire, and a local cancer lead, said he was ‘sceptical about the clinical evidence’ for the plan.

‘If you put in another alternative, that might delay things, as a patient will end up being seen in three weeks, not two.’