Quarter of cancer patients visit GP three times with no diagnosis

A recent study, published in the British Journal of General Practice, has found that 23% of those suffering from cancer had visited a GP three or more times without receiving a diagnosis. The study involved 4,600 patients who were eventually diagnosed with 18 different types of cancer.

When cancer is not diagnosed through a GP, it means that A&E departments are often the ones that find the underlying reasons behind the illness. However, once patients are admitted to A&E over issues related to cancer, it is often much more difficult to treat the cancer that has had time to develop.

 It was found that 71% of all patients identified as having cancer had been to visit their GP at least once to ask about symptoms that were related to cancer. More worryingly, over a third (34%) of patients had not seen a GP at all regarding their symptoms. The latter finding means that these patients will often be admitted to A&E with cancer that has progressed to a late stage.

Those involved in research pointed to a myriad of reasons why these statistics occur. For instance, those who did not visit their GP were found to be older, male and more likely to be from deprived backgrounds.

Dr Georgios Lyratzopoulos, one of the lead researchers based at UCL, said: "These findings tell us that some patients diagnosed as an emergency might not be acting on ‘red flag’ symptoms which could have prompted them to visit their GP. There’s also a host of other factors that may be at play. For example, many elderly patients may find it difficult to get to the surgery or have other conditions which would prevent them from seeking an appointment, such as dementia."

As well as this, some of the cancers suffered were of a type that are more difficult to identify, including myeloma and lung cancer. Cancer Research UK suggested that the research indicates more awareness needs to be brought towards helping the public identify signs and symptoms.