A recent publication from NCIN - the National Cancer Intelligence Network - detailing the routes to diagnosis of all newly diagnosed cancer patients found that 23% were first diagnosed as emergencies.  Importantly, those patients diagnosed via an emergency route had considerably lower one year survival than patients diagnosed via managed routes

We really do not understand why some practices patients have a higher proportion of patients with an emergency route to diagnosis. This doesn’t always correlate well to the relative numbers of two week wait referrals sent by the practice as might be expected. It is thought that other factors e.g. proximity to A/E may influence patient behaviours and we believe it would be very useful to find out more about this cohort of patients.

Each PCT/Consortia within Lancashire and South Cumbria is being given the opportunity to work with us to understand the factors influencing the emergency route to diagnosis. We are proposing to use the National GP Audit tool developed by the Royal College of General Practitioners and the National Cancer Action Team.

The aim of the audit is to:

• Better understand the factors leading to first cancer diagnosis via the emergency route.
• Ensure that the findings of the audit are used to inform current practice potentially changing the routes to diagnosis for some patients.
• To use the findings to plan interventions to improve cancer awareness and early diagnosis initiatives across Lancashire and South Cumbria