Urgent review called for

The British Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (BAOMS) is calling for a root and branch examination of the fast track GP cancer referrals target, amid fears that the large number of patients referred under the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) two week wait rules are overwhelming the NHS and delaying access to treatment for those patients who actually have cancer.

Writing in the February issue of the British Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (BJOMS), senior facial surgeon and BJOMS Editor David Mitchell says: “The evidence shows that as few as 6.6 per cent of fast track GP cancer referrals are actually cancers, and nearly half of all new cancers are diagnosed by conventional methods. An urgent review is needed now to stop this target driven system delaying the treatment of patients who actually have mouth cancer.”

David Mitchell and colleagues say that the Urgent Suspected Cancer (USC) pathway does not work: “I am surprised that the Department of Health accepts a mere 3 per cent rate of cancer detection using the USC pathway, despite the extra pressure this is putting on an already fractured health service. This is non-evidence based politics, not evidence based medicine.”