One of the most frightening words that one may hear, is the word Cancer. Unfortunately this terrifying word is something that we are hearing more frequently and with 1 in 3 people in the UK developing cancer, the NHS has plans to achieve earlier cancer diagnosis to save lives.

Although half of people being diagnosed with cancer will now live for at least 10 years, as opposed to just 1 year following a diagnosis 40 years ago, NHS England are still looking at ways to improve our system.

There are plans for patients to be given the option to refer themselves for cancer tests. NHS England hopes that this will enable an extra 10% of people to be diagnosed earlier. As around 25% of cancer diagnoses are made too late it is hoped that the plans will improve cancer survival rates, especially for people who are over the age of 75. NHS England has been quoted saying “diagnosing 60%, rather than 50% of people early would mean 8,000 more patients would be alive 5 years after diagnosis”. It would also result in a fall in the number of cancer diagnoses being made in A&E Departments.

A number of initiatives are going to be tested by NHS England, to include;

  • Enabling patients to book their own appointments directly with a Hospital Diagnostic Service or testing unit instead of seeing their GP and being referred.
  • Offering patients different types of cancer tests in the same place, on the same day.
  • Using community pharmacists to fast track patients when recurring cancer symptoms are suspected
  • GP’s sending patients directly for specific tests without having to refer them to a specialist.

It is going to be interesting to see how this initiative works. We all know that the key to beating cancer is to be aware of symptoms and seek an early diagnosis. There are so many awareness campaigns relating to this, how well will the new scheme meet the demand? If this is going to be possible, what extra resources are going to be put into place? Of course by cutting out the GP attendance and referral, the procedure will be quicker but will there be adequate resources to meet the demand which is still going to be at the same level, if not, greater? More patients are bound to seek advice if they can be seen and tested in one appointment, rather than attending several different appointments. With hospitals already under a huge amount of pressure, let’s hope they are ready to face this new initiative.