Intended for healthcare professionals

Rapid response to:

Research

Referral patterns, cancer diagnoses, and waiting times after introduction of two week wait rule for breast cancer: prospective cohort study

BMJ 2007; 335 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.39258.688553.55 (Published 09 August 2007) Cite this as: BMJ 2007;335:288

Rapid Response:

No suprise there, then!

The Summary Box for this article claims this study 'adds' to
knowledge by showing that 'The two week rule has led to increased waiting
times for routine appointments.'

No 'research', other than observation of a supermarket check-out
queue was required to reach this conclusion. If some customers in the
queue are given preferential attention, without another check-out being
opened for the purpose, then inevitably, those customers who are not
cherry-picked for favourable treatment will have to wait longer.

Those of us managing patients who require imaging for serious, but
'non-cancerous' conditions have been aware of this for years.

Competing interests:
None declared

Competing interests: No competing interests

15 August 2007
Graham Kyle
Consultant Ophthalmologist
University Hospital Aintree, Liverpool,L9 1AE