Have large increases in fast track referrals improved bowel cancer outcomes in UK?

TY - JOUR

T1 - Have large increases in fast track referrals improved bowel cancer outcomes in UK?

AU - Thompson, Michael

AU - O'Leary, Daniel

AU - Heath, Iona

AU - Wood, Lynn Faulds

AU - Ellis, Brian

AU - Flashman, Karen

AU - Smart, Neil

AU - Nicholls, John

AU - Mortensen, Neil

AU - Finan, Paul

AU - Senapati, Asha

AU - Steele, Robert

AU - Dawson, Peter

AU - Hill, James

AU - Moran, Brendan

N1 - Copyright: Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

PY - 2020/11/10

Y1 - 2020/11/10

N2 - UK Department of Health policies to improve survival from bowel cancer through GP referral guidelines and public awareness campaigns have increased urgent referrals to hospitals. This has led to an unsustainable demand for colonoscopy and CT colonography without evidence of significant clinical benefit. These policies could be improved by more precise stratification of the risk of having bowel cancer to achieve prompt, rather than earlier, diagnosis while avoiding over-referral and investigation of patients with transient symptoms from benign conditions.

AB - UK Department of Health policies to improve survival from bowel cancer through GP referral guidelines and public awareness campaigns have increased urgent referrals to hospitals. This has led to an unsustainable demand for colonoscopy and CT colonography without evidence of significant clinical benefit. These policies could be improved by more precise stratification of the risk of having bowel cancer to achieve prompt, rather than earlier, diagnosis while avoiding over-referral and investigation of patients with transient symptoms from benign conditions.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85096029907

U2 - 10.1136/bmj.m3273

DO - 10.1136/bmj.m3273

M3 - Article

C2 - 33172846

SN - 0959-8146

VL - 371

JO - BMJ

JF - BMJ

M1 - m3273

ER -