Urgent Direct Access to Diagnostic Services for General Practitioners: Bridging the Gap in Cancer Diagnosis

Gurung, Roji; Podlasek, Anna

Abstract

Urgent direct access to diagnostic services for general practitioners (GPs) is a new pathway to capture any cancer diagnoses that may have been missed due to vague symptom presentations. Hence, GPs should look out for the key symptoms mentioned by NHS England that should prompt urgent direct access referrals for chest X-ray (CXR), computed tomography (CT) chest, MRI brain, ultrasound (US) abdomen and pelvis, and CT abdomen and pelvis. By implementing this approach, we can significantly reduce the time to diagnosis, while minimizing the number of visits to GP and specialist appointments prior to initiating investigations. However, the use of this pathway can only improve if access to diagnostic scans is improved. This needs to be done by ensuring all GPs in the country have access to directly request MRI brains, CT chest, abdomen, and pelvis. Further research into the impact of the urgent direct access pathway as well as investigating the number of GPs without access to these vital diagnostic services is required to fully improve and measure the progress of this referral pathway. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2024, Gurung et al.]

Citation

Gurung, R., & Podlasek, A. (2024). Urgent Direct Access to Diagnostic Services for General Practitioners: Bridging the Gap in Cancer Diagnosis. Cureus, 16(6), Article e63350. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.63350

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 25, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Jun 28, 2024
• Publication Date: Jun 28, 2024
• Deposit Date: Sep 11, 2024
• Journal: Cureus
• Electronic ISSN: 2168-8184
• Publisher: Springer
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 16
• Issue: 6
• Article Number: e63350
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.63350
• Keywords: chest-x-ray (cxr), mri brain, radiology, general practice, ct chest, ct abdomen and chest, cancers, us abdomen and chest, urgent direct access tests
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/38630927
• Publisher URL: https://www.cureus.com/articles/209406-urgent-direct-access-to-diagnostic-services-for-general-practitioners-bridging-the-gap-in-cancer-diagnosis#!/