All GPs to receive direct access to cancer tests

All GP practices in England will be able to book cancer tests directly for their patients from later this month, NHS bosses say.

The option of GPs booking CT scans, ultrasounds and MRIs has been gradually rolled out in recent years, as community testing centres have opened.

NHS England chief executive Amanda Pritchard will announce later all GPs will now be able to do this.

GPs have previously relied on referring on to specialist hospital doctors.

Before referring, they have to identify clear symptoms the patient may have a specific type of cancer.

But only one out of every five cancer cases is diagnosed through these urgent GP referrals.

Patients with less clear symptoms face long waits for check-ups or are diagnosed only after presenting at an accident-and-emergency (A&E) unit or being referred to hospital for something else.

Two out of every five cancer cases are not diagnosed until they are at a later stage.

And Ms Pritchard will tell delegates at the NHS Providers annual conference of health managers, in Liverpool, on Wednesday, she hopes the new initiative will lead to tens of thousands of cancer cases every year being detected sooner.

There have been fewer than expected diagnoses since the start of the Covid pandemic, as fewer people attended checks.

And last week, the Macmillan charity warned of about 30,000 missing cancer cases.

Faster access

Dr Martin Marshall, who chairs the Royal College of General Practitioners, said GPs were beginning to see more patients coming forward with cancer symptoms - and direct access to testing would help those whose symptoms were less clear cut.

"The college has long been calling for GPs to have better access to diagnostic testing in the community," he said.

But patients also need faster access to treatment.

A BBC News analysis last week found the number waiting more than the target time of 62 days for treatment to start had doubled in the past four years across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Cancer doctors blamed, in part, a shortage of staff to provide treatments such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

'Conservative mismanagement'

Also at the conference on Wednesday, in his first major speech as Health Secretary, Steve Barclay is expected to set out more detail about how the government will tackle the growing backlog in both cancer care and routine operations as well as plans to reduce the high number of delayed discharges.

The fact most patients ready to leave hospital cannot because of a lack of care in the community is cited as one of the key reasons for long waits in other parts of the hospital, including A&E.

On Tuesday, Labour shadow health secretary Wes Streeting told the conference 12 years of Conservative mismanagement had left the NHS and care system "gridlocked".

A Labour government would train more doctors and nurses - funded by abolishing non-domiciled status, under which UK residents whose permanent home is elsewhere may not have to pay UK tax on foreign income, he added.