The Consequences of Delays in Cancer Patient Referrals

We explore concerns raised by experts and call for a deep reflection on the need to improve communication, timely referrals, and care for cancer patients. Every day of delay in care can have devastating consequences.

Jon Ungoed-Thomas and Shanti Das highlight some of the morbid reality we at Salutare have been dealing with. A cancer referral delay can destroy lives, and the consequential psychological and economic burden to society is enormous.

Though they reported that 15% of patients do not hear back after a cancer referral, the other 85% face more challenges at subsequent steps;

At the two week wait appointment, if further scans, bloods, or other tests are required, the appointments are not scheduled or are scheduled with unacceptable delays.

If these investigations are positive and the patient is referred to the cancer MDT, some cases are not properly prepared for full discussion or the data is not available for a decision to be made, causing a further delay.

If the MDT makes a recommendation, based on our audits a significant but unknown number of patient cancer MDT recommendations are lost to follow-up.

If treatment, which is usually handled by a multitude of teams, is commenced, the change of responsibility from one team to another is another area where cancer patients can be lost. For example, do the surgeons or the oncologists monitor the patient?

Currently healthcare systems do not have the infrastructure to accurately measure the cumulative downfall caused by these inefficiencies in communication. What we can speculate is that if 15% of patients experience a month delay at the first step, it is likely that the numbers experiencing delays at subsequent steps are cumulatively far higher.

Salutare has been taking on these challenges head on. Our aim is to target what matters to help improve lives and give a new opportunity to these lost patients through better healthcare workflows. Healthcareful® means patients are not lost.

Author.

Dr. Dara Vakili (Salutare Product Manager).

References:
1. Jon Ungoed-Thomas & Shanti Das (29 July 2023). Revealed: How hidden delays blight cancer care in England and Wales. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jul/29/revealed-how-hidden-delays-blight-cancer-care-in-england-and-wales
2. Salutare Group LTD, 1110 Elliott Court, Coventry Business Park, Herald Avenue, Coventry, CV5 6UB, UK.