SynthesisThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2018
Direct access cancer testing in primary care: a systematic review of use and clinical outcomes.
Synthesis in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 17 citations in OpenAlex.
- General practitioner referrals to one-stop clinics for symptoms that could be indicative of cancer: a systematic review of use and clinical outcomes.Family practice · 2019Pooled it
- Direct access cancer testing in primary care: a systematic review of use and clinical outcomes.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2018Pooled it
- Spatial accessibility to healthcare and wide-area evacuation following the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake: a GIS-based cross-sectional study.Scientific reports · 2026Observational
- Early economic evaluation of magnetic resonance imaging for prostate cancer detection in primary care.BJUI compass · 2024Article
- Patients from general practice with non-specific cancer symptoms: a retrospective study of symptoms and imaging.BJGP open · 2024Article
- Irish general practitioner (GP) perspectives on impact of direct access radiology on patient care in the community: results from a mixed-methods study.Irish journal of medical science · 2024Article
- Article
- Community diagnostic centres: bringing diagnostics closer to home.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2021Article
- Unintended consequences: quantifying the benefits, iatrogenic harms and downstream cascade costs of musculoskeletal MRI in UK primary care.BMJ open quality · 2021Article
- Direct access from general practice to transvaginal ultrasound for early detection of ovarian cancer: a feasibility study.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2021Article
- Recognising Colorectal Cancer in Primary Care.Advances in therapy · 2021Article
- Patient experiences of the urgent cancer referral pathway-Can the NHS do better? Semi-structured interviews with patients with upper gastrointestinal cancer.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2020Article
- Negotiating the risks of computed tomography in primary care.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2020Review
- The elusive diagnosis of cancer: testing times.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundDirect access (DA) testing allows GPs to refer patients for investigation without consulting a specialist. The aim is to reduce waiting time for investigations and unnecessary appointments, enabling treatment to begin without delay.
aimTo establish the proportion of patients diagnosed with cancer and other diseases through DA testing, time to diagnosis, and suitability of DA investigations. DESIGN AND
settingSystematic review assessing the effectiveness of GP DA testing in adults.
methodMEDLINE, Embase, and the Cochrane Library were searched. Where possible, study data were pooled and analysed quantitatively. Where this was not possible, the data are presented narratively.
resultsThe authors identified 60 papers that met pre-specified inclusion criteria. Most studies were carried out in the UK and were judged to be of poor quality. The authors found no significant difference in the pooled cancer conversion rate between GP DA referrals and patients who first consulted a specialist for any test, except gastroscopy. There were also no significant differences in the proportions of patients receiving any non-cancer diagnosis. Referrals for testing were deemed appropriate in 66.4% of those coming from GPs, and in 80.9% of those from consultants; this difference was not significant. The time from referral to testing was significantly shorter for patients referred for DA tests. Patient and GP satisfaction with DA testing was consistently high.
conclusionGP DA testing performs as well as, and on some measures better than, consultant triaged testing on measures of disease detection, appropriateness of referrals, interval from referral to testing, and patient and GP satisfaction.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.