Urgent GP referrals for suspected cancer associated with lower mortality, study claims

Early GP referrals are associated with cancer patients surviving longer, according to a study looking at 1.4m patients with cancer in England.1

Researchers from King’s College London and Public Health England looked at patients diagnosed between 2011 and 2015 and assessed the association between the use of urgent referrals in general practice and cancer stage at diagnosis and mortality.

The study, published in the British Journal of General Practice and funded by the National Institute for Health Research, found that higher practice use of referrals for suspected cancer was associated with lower mortality for the four most …