Letters
Suspected cancer in adults
Authors’ reply to Steele and colleagues
BMJ 2015; 351 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.h4258 (Published 11 August 2015) Cite this as: BMJ 2015;351:h4258
- William Hamilton, professor of primary care diagnostics1,
- Steve Hajioff, director of public health2,
- John Graham, director and consultant in clinical oncology3,
- Mia Schmidt-Hansen, researcher3
- 1University of Exeter, Exeter EX1 2LU, UK
- 2London Borough of Hillingdon, Uxbridge, UK
- 3National Collaborating Centre for Cancer, Cardiff, UK
- w.hamilton{at}exeter.ac.uk
In response to Steele and colleagues,1 2 half of patients with colorectal cancer did not meet the criteria for urgent referral under the previous guidance. These patients, with “low risk, but not no risk symptoms” did badly, with longer times to diagnosis,3 more emergency admissions,4 and higher mortality.3 The 2015 National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance sought to improve this.1
The …
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