Requests made under the Freedom of Information Act have identified 33 NHS Hospital Trusts that ignore NICE's 2 week-wait Urgent Referral guidelines (1) for womb cancer (2) (3).
Around 500 pre-menopausal NHS womb cancer cases are diagnosed annually. (4) Some inequitable NHS Trusts continue to stereotype womb cancer as an exclusively post-menopausal disease. Their forms only list tick-boxes for post-menopausal endometrial symptoms. Some forms explicitly ban the 2WW referral of endometrial patients under a certain age. One 2WW form states that "delayed diagnosis does not seem to be a major problem in pre-menopausal women". Not so for the annual 50 NHS pre-menopausal womb cancer mortalities.
NICE advises GPs to 'Consider an urgent referral for patients with persistent intermenstrual bleeding and negative pelvic examination'.
Small wonder the NHS diagnoses womb cancer late when so many Hospital Trusts ignore life-saving NICE guidance and force younger womb cancer patients to battle for diagnosis. Contact me for details of the 32 trusts at k@tylko.idps.co.uk"
2) The Womb Cancer Consensus Statement, 2010 Eve Appeal & National Forum of Gynaecological Oncology Nurses. In the preface Prof Sir Mike Richards writes, "Womb cancer is not well known; its incidence is growing and forecast to increase still further over the next decade."
3) The vernacular "womb" covers cancers of the endometrium and myometrium.
4) stats.teamcancer.org.uk
Yours sincerely
Katharine Tylko-Hill
Macmillan CancerVOICE, Consumer Reviewer Cochrane Gynaecological Cancer Group
Rapid Response:
33 Hospital Trusts ignore NICE Urgent Referral Guidance
Requests made under the Freedom of Information Act have identified 33 NHS Hospital Trusts that ignore NICE's 2 week-wait Urgent Referral guidelines (1) for womb cancer (2) (3).
Around 500 pre-menopausal NHS womb cancer cases are diagnosed annually. (4) Some inequitable NHS Trusts continue to stereotype womb cancer as an exclusively post-menopausal disease. Their forms only list tick-boxes for post-menopausal endometrial symptoms. Some forms explicitly ban the 2WW referral of endometrial patients under a certain age. One 2WW form states that "delayed diagnosis does not seem to be a major problem in pre-menopausal women". Not so for the annual 50 NHS pre-menopausal womb cancer mortalities.
NICE advises GPs to 'Consider an urgent referral for patients with persistent intermenstrual bleeding and negative pelvic examination'.
Small wonder the NHS diagnoses womb cancer late when so many Hospital Trusts ignore life-saving NICE guidance and force younger womb cancer patients to battle for diagnosis. Contact me for details of the 32 trusts at k@tylko.idps.co.uk"
1) NICE Referral guidelines for suspected cancer, 2005 www.nice.org.uk/CG027
2) The Womb Cancer Consensus Statement, 2010 Eve Appeal & National Forum of Gynaecological Oncology Nurses. In the preface Prof Sir Mike Richards writes, "Womb cancer is not well known; its incidence is growing and forecast to increase still further over the next decade."
3) The vernacular "womb" covers cancers of the endometrium and myometrium.
4) stats.teamcancer.org.uk
Yours sincerely
Katharine Tylko-Hill
Macmillan CancerVOICE, Consumer Reviewer Cochrane Gynaecological Cancer Group
Competing interests: No competing interests