Cancer patients dying due to late diagnosis of disease and A&E admissions
- Nov 6, 2015
- EmmaArnold
Researchers have warned that cancer patients are being diagnosed too late which reduces their chances of survival.
New figures from London Cancer have shown that a quarter of cancer patients die in six months due to late diagnosis, often going to A&E units with late stages of the disease.
GPs and the patients themselves are missing signs of cancer and many people don't know they're ill until it's too late.
However, some cancer patients visit their GPs frequently with symptoms but are repeatedly left undiagnosed as they are not referred to specialists.
We are always told how early diagnosis and treatment can radically improve the chances of survival so it's important to catch it early.
Their research also showed a correlation between diagnosis and age with half of patients aged over 75 dying after just three months of diagnosis.
A previous study from a Kings College London found that thousands of cancer sufferers might still be alive if GPs had referred them for fast track appointments.
Lesley Herbertson, Senior Solicitor in the clinical negligence department at PotterReesDolan, said:
We deal with many cases in which a diagnosis of cancer has been made too late meaning that the patient's chance of short and/or long term survival has been much reduced. The cases that we see often involve patients who have repeatedly visited their GP who has failed to recognise the warning signs of often typical symptoms.
There is a natural reluctance for individuals to take their ailments to a GP. When they do attend at the doctors often the first instinct of the GP is to exclude other possible causes of the patient's symptoms and/or to adopt a wait and see approach. If a patient goes back on a number of occasions with similar symptoms the worrying pattern can be missed, especially if the patient is seen by a different doctor each time.
Hospitals can also fail cancer patients by failing to complete all appropriate tests or be suspicious of any inconsistent results which need double checking. Clearly it would be better for patients and the health service ultimately if doctors could be trained to err on the side of caution wherever possible, listen to what the patient is telling them about their history of symptoms and to go back over the notes and any test results from previous consultations. This would then lead to more specialist referrals sufficiently early to give those who do have cancer a better chance.