Measures of promptness of cancer diagnosis in primary care

Published Date: 01st May 2013

Publication Authors: Irving G, Holden JD

Extract
Sir,
In their discussion Lyratzopoulos et al (2003) make the crucial point that they were not able to examine whether prolonged values of either the primary care interval or the number of pre-referral consultations were either justifiable or preventable. We also wish to question the widely held assumption that optimum care necessitates correctly identifying and referring a patient with serious illness (cancer) during the first consultation? This implies that reviewing a patient over time may cause harm as a consequence of delayed referral and subsequent diagnosis.

Irving, G; Holden, J. (2013). Measures of promptness of cancer diagnosis in primary care. British Journal of Cancer. 108 (10), 2186

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