Thousands of bowel cancer patients were originally undiagnosed
- Sep 28, 2016
- EmmaArnold
A new study suggests GPs are regularly missing typical signs of one of the most common signs of cancer.
At least 2,000 bowel cancer patients a year are only diagnosed when the illness was found at A&E through 'emergency presentation'.
The study found a fifth of those with bowel cancer had previously been sent away from their GP despite having 'red flag' symptoms such as weight loss, diarrhoea and abdominal pain.
Those who are only diagnosed at A&E generally have more advanced tumours which are harder to treat and so their chances of survival are therefore reduced.
Gill Edwards, Senior Solicitor in clinical negligence at Potter Rees Dolan, said:
Unfortunately we see the worst results of delayed diagnosis of cancer in the cases we deal with and the outcome could have been very different had the diagnosis been made earlier.
According to this research, a large number of patients with colon and rectal cancer had advanced symptoms by the time of their diagnosis and ended up being referred as an emergency. If they had been referred for treatment sooner, the cancer would have been at an earlier stage and they could have had planned treatment with a more positive outcome.
Bowel cancer kills around 16,000 people in Britain a year. These rates have soared by 14% since the 1970s with Britain having one of the worst cancer survival rates in Western Europe.
This rise is partly being blamed by some on GPs missing these 'red flag' warning signs and potentially deterring patients for scans as managers are trying to save money.
The study also found that women are less likely to be diagnosed by a GP are their symptoms can be confused for the menopause.
If you have experienced a delay in diagnosis and would like to talk to one of our professional clinical negligence solicitors thentalk to us today.