One in four cancer patients at risk from late diagnosis – the signs you need to know
ONE in four cancer patients experience an avoidable delay to their diagnosis, a damning study reveals.
Researchers warn they wait two months longer on average, adding to anxiety and slashing survival chances.
They blame the needless hold-ups on a mix of dithering patients, hesitant GPs, busy hospitals and a backlog of tests.
Experts at Cancer Research UK analysed data on 14,259 people diagnosed with cancer in England in one year.
They found 3,372 (24 per cent) experienced a delay that could have been avoided.
Avoidable delays
Some 13 per cent were because patients were slow to visit their family doctor with their fears.
Almost half, 49 per cent, happened while they were being assessed by their GP, including waits for tests and results.
And the remaining 38 per cent were stalled after being referred to a hospital.
Long waiting times for tests were responsible for 25 per cent of all avoidable delays across GP surgeries and hospitals.
This is a result of staffing shortages among diagnostic staff, with one in ten hospital posts vacant, it is claimed.
The key early signs and symptoms of cancer
Catching cancer early is the only way to stop the disease in its tracks and increase your chance of survival.
The best way of doing that is by being aware of the signs and symptoms and spotting them as soon as possible.
Some signs of cancer – like a lump - are better known than others. So, the less well-known possible cancer symptoms are listed here first, but that doesn’t mean they’re more important, or more likely to be cancer.
Here are the signs to look out for:
- Breathlessness
- Unexplained vaginal bleeding
- Very heavy night sweats
- Croaky voice or hoarseness
- Persistent heartburn or indigestion
- Mouth or tongue ulcer that won't heal
- Persistent bloating
- Difficulty swallowing
- A change in bowel habit, such as constipation, looser poo or pooing more often
- Sore that won't heal
- Appetite loss
- Unusual breast changes
- Blood in your poo
- Blood in your pee
- Problems peeing
- Unexplained weight loss
- New mole or changes to a mole
- Coughing up blood
- Persistent cough
- Unexplained pain or ache
- Unusual lump or swelling anywhere
Anyone can develop cancer, but it's more common as we get older - most cases are in people over the age of 50.
If you spot anything that isn’t normal for you, whether it’s on this list or not, get it checked out.
Don't put it down to being something to do with getting older or another health condition you might have.
Make an appointment and get anything checked out that you're worried about.
Source:
GPs may be slow to diagnose cancer if patients have vague symptoms that may not be immediately attributable to the disease.
And people with pre-existing conditions are more likely to experience delays for the same reason.
Study leader Ruth Swann said: “Our research shows there’s a good opportunity to significantly reduce delays by cutting the time it takes for patients to have tests done.
“We need more research to develop and evaluate new diagnostic tests for patients with vague symptoms and a better way to manage them.”
Vital for survival
Sara Hiom, director of early diagnosis at Cancer Research UK, said: “Diagnosing people at an early stage, when treatment is more likely to be successful, is vital to ensure more people survive their cancer.
“Trying to find cancer in people with a range of symptoms and other conditions is very complicated.
Diagnosing people at an early stage, when treatment is more likely to be successful, is vital to ensure more people survive their cancer
Sara Hiom
“And while NHS doctors and nurses are doing everything they can to see patients quickly, the NHS is experiencing a staffing crisis.
“There simply aren’t enough people in the NHS to read scans or report tests swiftly.
“Waiting for a possible cancer diagnosis is an extremely anxious time, so no one should have to wait longer than is absolutely necessary.”
Lessons should be learned
Prof Martin Marshall, Chair of the Royal College of GPs, said lessons should be learned from the study.
But he added: “GPs have to balance the risk of not referring a patient with that of over-referring, which can cause unnecessary concern for patients and risks overloading specialist services.
“It’s a decision that is exacerbated as many symptoms of cancer are vague and often likely to be other, more common conditions.”
NHS England said the figures analysed by CRUK are from 2014 and “significant improvements” in care and treatment have been made since.
A spokesman added: “The NHS carried out 2.2million checks last year, the most ever, and research released just last week shows that cancer survival is at a record high.”
Figures published last week also show a record number of patients are waiting more than two weeks for a cancer referral.
More than 363,000 people are diagnosed with cancer each year in the UK. It will increase to 500,000 by 2035 – one person every minute.
The findings are published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology.