Survey finds kidney cancer patients face anxiety over delayed scan results

A new survey from Kidney Cancer UK has found that kidney cancer patients under surveillance following surgery are facing anxiety through long waits for their scan results.

Over 70 patients completed the survey, which related to the delivery of scan results for those undergoing monitoring post-surgery after a kidney cancer diagnosis.

According to the survey, up to 85% are suffering from ‘scanxiety’, also revealing that 66% of patients are waiting at least three weeks after their scan while 20% are waiting for eight weeks or longer.

The survey also found that almost half of all respondents had little confidence that their results would be communicated with them within an ‘acceptable time span’ following the scan.

“Cancer patients are under enough pressure through living with and beyond their diagnosis. The additional stress and anxiety brought on by having to wait such an unreasonable time for a scan result on the NHS is not acceptable,” said Nick Turkentine, chief executive officer of Kidney Cancer UK

“We have to ensure there is a limit on how long a patient should have to wait for these momentous scan results and end the culture of Scanxiety. And, in line with Jonathan Perry’s comment, we should ensure our NHS is fit for purpose, staffed correctly and rewarded fully,” he added.

Following the survey findings, the UK-based kidney cancer charity is urging NHS urology departments to consider the effect of these delays on patients’ mental health and reduce the time it takes to share scan results with them.