Impact of straight to test pathways on time to diagnosis in oesophageal and gastric cancer

Jones, James Andrew; Catton, James; Howard, Glen; Leeder, Paul; Brewer, Lesley; Hatton, James; Shaw, Dominick E.

Abstract

Background: Cancer survival in the UK has doubled in the last 40 years; however, 1-year and 5-year survival rates are still lower than other countries. One cause may be a delay between referral into secondary care and subsequent investigation. We set out to evaluate the impact of a straight to test pathway (STTP) on time to diagnosis for upper gastrointestinal (UGI) cancer.
Methods: Six hospital Trusts across the East Midlands Clinical Network introduced a STTP enabling general practitioners to refer patients with suspected UGI cancer (oesophageal/gastric) for immediate investigation, without the need to see a hospital specialist first. Data were collected for all patients referred between 2013 and
2015 with suspected UGI cancer and stratified by STTP or traditional referral pathway. Overall time from referral to diagnosis was compared. Data from two Trusts who did not implement STTP acted as control.
Results: 340 patients followed the STTP pathway and 495 followed the traditional route. STTP saved a mean of 7 days from referral to treatment (with a 95% CI of 3 to 11 days, p

Citation

Jones, J. A., Catton, J., Howard, G., Leeder, P., Brewer, L., Hatton, J., & Shaw, D. E. (2018). Impact of straight to test pathways on time to diagnosis in oesophageal and gastric cancer. BMJ Open Quality, 7(3), e000328. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjoq-2018-000328

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 15, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Jul 21, 2018
• Publication Date: Aug 30, 2018
• Deposit Date: Aug 10, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 10, 2018
• Journal: BMJ Open Quality
• Print ISSN: 2399-6641
• Publisher: BMJ Publishing Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 7
• Issue: 3
• Pages: e000328
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjoq-2018-000328
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/988961
• Publisher URL: https://bmjopenquality.bmj.com/content/7/3/e000328
• Contract Date: Aug 10, 2018