Published 29 September 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b3994
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b3994

News

GPs are to refer suspected cancer patients for tests in a week under new scheme

Oliver Ellis

1 BMJ

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown is expected to announce that by 2014 all patients with suspected cancer will undergo key diagnostic tests within one week.

A report in the Guardian newspaper said that up to 10 000 lives a year could be saved by the new initiative, which will see GPs being given the authority to directly refer patients to diagnostic services (www.guardian.co.uk, 26 Sep, "Gordon Brown to woo conference with cancer pledge and new NHS cash").

Mr Brown’s speech was not released before he delivered it to the Labour party conference on Tuesday afternoon, as the BMJ went to press.

New imaging equipment is expected to be purchased, with funding coming from budget savings in other areas of the health service. The scheme is being seen as an extension of the government’s previous announcement that targets are to be replaced with a system of "patient entitlements."

Harpal Kumar, . . . [Full text of this article]


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Very good news for cancer patients
S. Michael Crawford
bmj.com, 9 Oct 2009 [Full text]
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