Cancer patients unhappy if referred late

The findings, published by Cancer Research UK, also showed those who suffered delays in being referred were more likely to be dissatisfied with their overall care.

Some 39% of those said they were dissatisfied with support from Global Positioning System and nurses, compared to 28% of those who needed two or fewer visits. Around one in every five patients was not happy about the way medical staff broke the news that he or she had cancer.

These included an increase in patients’ distrust in nurses, suspicions that information was deliberately withheld and resentment at how they were told.

40% expressed dissatisfaction with how hospital staff and Global Positioning System had worked with each other to provide the best possible care, compared to 33% among those referred promptly.

Cancer research scientists representing the University of Cambridge and the University College London are saying that a large number of cancer patients are not satisfied with the kind of care they are getting and are losing confidence in healthcare providers treating them. And a rise from 28 percent to 32 percent rise in patients who lacked confidence and trust in the ward nurses.

Study author Dr Georgios Lyratzopoulos, a Cancer Research UK scientist at UCL (University College London), said the research shows how first impressions matter in determining how cancer patients view their experience of cancer treatment.

It’s very easy to trigger a chain-reaction of loss of confidence with a negative experience of diagnosis, which will be reflected on the entirety of the cancer journey.

He noted that when delays occur, it is often because the cancer symptoms that are present are hard to distinguish from other diseases.

The study involved more than 70,000 cancer patients. The research team said that new diagnosis tools may considerably cut wait time before a GP decides to refer a patient to cancer tests. “This will hopefully contribute to improving the patient experience, one of the six strategic priorities recommended by the UK’s Cancer Task Force last week”. Last month we saw the NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) announcing that it would be issuing a checklist of symptoms for family doctors to allow them spot cancer quickly.

Nice said too many Global Positioning System are “guessing” whether symptoms could mean cancer, with late diagnosis responsible for the deaths of up to 10,000 people each year.

Citation: Mendonca S.C.et al, Pre-referral general practitioner consultations and subsequent experience of cancer care: evidence from the English Cancer Patient Experience Survey, European Journal of Cancer (2015), DOI: 10.1111/ecc.12353.