GP researchers have questioned the logic behind Government plans to rank practices on their cancer referral times, as they say delays in diagnosing cancer are largely out of GPs’ control.
Writing in the BMJ, they argue such delays are largely down to limitations in current scientific knowledge about symptoms or signs for certain cancers, and organisational problems in the health service.
Earlier in the year, health secretary Jeremy Hunt announced plans to rank GPs according to how quickly they referred patients for cancer.
However a team led by Professor Greg Rubin, professor of general practice and primary care at the University of Durham, argues that having frequent visits to the GP before being referred is a marker of the difficulty in suspecting cancer, rather then poor practice.
The experts explain that frequent visits are often necessary for investigations of non-specific symptoms, while poor communication between primary and secondary care, and patients not wanting to be referred, contribute to delays.
They write: ‘Considered together, these observations suggest that diagnostic difficulty and the need for investigation of poorly differentiated symptoms in primary care are more likely to be the drivers for multiple consultations than poor diagnostic reasoning and suboptimal professional practice.’
Professor Rubin and colleagues say more should be done to get patients to consult their GP sooner with symptoms, and to speed up investigations and treatments in secondary care.
They conclude: ‘We argue that prolonged diagnostic intervals chiefly reflect limitations in scientific knowledge and in the organisation and delivery of healthcare.
‘This understanding is critical for informing the development of novel research strategies and policies to improve diagnostic quality. We advocate a framework for future research and improvement strategies that recognises the central role of variation in diagnostic difficulty across different cancers and organisational factors. We also advocate better information for the public, the media, and policy makers about the origins of prolonged intervals between presentation and diagnosis of cancer.’
NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens yesterday announced plans yesterday to hold CCGs to account on their survival rates.
BMJ 2014; available online 9 Dec
