Taskforce recommends faster GP
referral for earlier cancer diagnosis
ACHIEVING
WORLD- CLA
SS
CANCER OUT
COMES
A STR
continued from page 1
ATEGY FOR EN
GL AND
2015-2020
Simon Stevens, NHS England chief
executive, said: “Two fifths of cancers
are preventable, and half of patients are
currently diagnosed when their cancers
are advanced. That’s why the NHS will be
backing this groundbreaking route map
for prevention, earlier diagnosis, modern
treatments and compassionate care.”
Report of the
Dr Maureen Baker, Chair of the Royal
College of GPs, said:
“GPs are already doing
a very good job of
appropriately referring
our patients who we
suspect of having
cancer, considering
the relative rarity of
presentations - an
Rich Roope, will be
average GP might see
speaking at Best Practice
eight new cases of
Independent
Cancer Taskf
orce
cancer for every 8,000 patient
consultations - and the limited
resources available to us.
“We have a severe shortage of
family doctors and the access
we currently have to diagnostic
tools is completely inadequate,
so we particularly welcome
the drive to give GPs better
access to relevant scanners –
something that the College has
long been calling for.
“Anything that can be done to lower patients’
anxiety and any undue distress when they have – or
might have – cancer should be encouraged, so we
also support the aspiration to provide patients with
their test results within four weeks.”
Dr Richard Roope, RCGP and Cancer Research
UK Clinical Lead for Cancer will be discussing the
Taskforce’s recommendations in a clinical update
on cancer at Best Practice.
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First, an admission. I’m writing this in a hurry. It
should have been submitted yesterday, and I’m
usually pretty conscientious about getting my
work in on time. So what’s my excuse?
Last month, one of the two other partners at my
surgery decided, at the grand old age of 49, that
she simply couldn’t carry on being a GP. She was
burnt out by working long hours filling in boxes
that were adding nothing to patient care, with ever
increasing demands from patients that they be seen
and dealt with straight away or they would make a
formal complaint. And her take home pay had fallen
so much it just wasn’t worth it any more – she’d
worked out that she was averaging £39 an hour,
before tax, what with all the hours she was spending
doing paperwork in the evenings and at weekends.
Of course, she’s not alone. She’s merely one of the
many kind, caring, family doctors who just don’t
want to do the job any more, and have walked away.
Our practice finances are so tight we’re trying to
limit locum costs, so I’ve been working 14 hour
days trying to ensure the patients are dealt with,
the results get seen, the letters get read – and their
contents actioned and coded. Then there is the little
matter of the extra stuff that needs to be done to
keep the money coming in so the staff get paid. I
rejoiced when I heard that some of the downright
silly parts of QOF had been removed, though asking
94 year olds how may hours they had spent on a
bicycle in the past week did bring many moments of
much-needed laughter into my consultations. But
instead we now have the ‘admissions avoidance’
template to complete. To be fair, having a record
of next of kin for ‘at risk’ patients seems sensible.
Asking about resuscitation has been an interesting
academic exercise – and if only I had the time (
some hope…) I’d record the results in a way
that could be published. For I’ve found, almost
universally, that those with a good quality of life are
telling me they’ve had a good innings, and no way
do they want anyone trying to break their ribs to
keep them going. In contrast, those who are so ill
and frail that they need carers in three times a day
are horrified at the thought of ‘do not resusitate’.
“After all, doc, life’s worth living isn’t it?”. Not
quite what those who designed the question had
in mind, I suspect. And if they thought filling in the
questionnaire was going to make any difference to
hospital admissions rates, they are sadly mistaken.
I already know which of my patients are likely to
fall over, or have a stroke, and I’ve already done
everything I can to try and prevent it happening.
Spending 15 minutes writing it down on paper isn’t
going to help in any way at all. It’s merely going to
make a lot more hard working GP’s even more fed
up with their job.
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