Direct access to imaging for cancer from primary care

In November 2022 the NHS chief executive, Amanda Pritchard, announced that all general practitioners in England will have direct access to diagnostic imaging for patients with concerning symptoms that fall outside the criteria for urgent referral of patients with suspected cancer.1 The plans build on the rollout of 160 community diagnostic centres, scheduled for completion by 2025,2 which provide more local imaging services outside acute hospitals. Exactly what constitutes “concerning symptoms” has not yet been defined,3 and investigating and diagnosing cancer in patients with non-specific symptoms is challenging, as discussed by Black and colleagues in a linked article (doi:10.1136/bmj-2022-071225).4

The policy announced by NHS England could help reduce longstanding inequalities in GP access to diagnostic imaging that currently exist between NHS regions.5 For example, the proportion of general practices with access to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) varies from 20% to 85% among regions. Direct …