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August 2024 - Health

Research reveals that 16-24-year-olds are more likely to need more GP visits and discussions before a cancer diagnosis is made: The research analysis by Nuffield Trust and the Health Foundation found that it’s taking more GP visits, and more conversations with a GP, to diagnose cancer in 16-24-year-olds. Almost 1 in 2 of 16-24-year-olds had three or more conversations with GP staff, compared to 1 in 5 of the population as a whole. However, this rises to 1 in 3 for people of Mixed, Asian and Black ethnicities.

The findings come from Nuffield Trust and the Health Foundation’s QualityWatch research, which is a joint research project using NHS cancer diagnosis data. The pair analysed the data and put together the QualityWatch report, which looks deeper into the numbers and statistics.

By 2028, the NHS is aiming to have 75% of people with cancer diagnosed at an early stage (stage 1 and 2). However, Nuffield Trust’s current trajectory predicts that only 62.4% of people with cancer will be diagnosed at an early stage. This target is very important to achieve because at the moment, 2 in 5 cancer diagnoses are taking place once the cancer has already advanced to a late stage, with little improvement expected on current performance.

The analysis also reveals pressure throughout the NHS cancer diagnosis process. The amount of urgent suspected cancer referrals has been increasing since 2009 and in 2020 and 2021 there was more than 2 million each year. After the referral is made, many face problems such as an appointment slot booking issue. Twenty percent have this specific problem, which then delays their appointment. Additionally, 1 in 4 must wait over 28 days for diagnosis.

The work by Nuffield Trust and the Health Foundation highlighted that screening is the most effective way to detect certain cancers at early stages, with 88% of patients diagnosed in the early stages using this method.

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