Patients with suspected cancer are being refused urgent tests by NHS managers in a ploy to meet waiting times targets, senior doctors have warned. Some patients have their cancer risk ‘downgraded’ and are told they do not qualify for the two-week track. They are then not seen for up to six months. Many are later confirmed to have cancer and campaigners warn that such lengthy delays are putting lives at ‘serious risk’. Cancer survival rates in Britain are notoriously lower than those elsewhere in Europe and this has partly been blamed on GPs not picking up the early warning signs, and referring patients for tests. But an investigation by Pulse magazine has identified that doctors are increasingly having referrals ‘bounced back’ by hospital managers who say patients are unlikely to have cancer, so can wait longer.
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Filed under: Uncategorized, Cancer, delays, NHS
