ArticleAnnals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England2023
Outpatient secondary care pathways for head and neck cancer referral result in patient delays for cancer treatment.
Article in Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed, 2 citations in OpenAlex.
- Compliance and Effectiveness of the Scottish Referral Guidelines for Suspected Head and Neck Cancer: A Comparative Audit of 7088 Referrals.Clinical otolaryngology : official journal of ENT-UK ; official journal of Netherlands Society for Oto-Rhino-Laryngology & Cervico-Facial Surgery · 2026Article
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6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionThe majority of head and neck cancer referrals are received through primary care. A proportion of cancer referrals are received through secondary care specialties. Local delivery plan (LDP) targets in Scotland for cancer investigation are set at 31 days for diagnosis and 62 days to start treatment. The aim was to audit referrals made through non-primary care pathways compared with the standard primary care pathways against LDP targets.
methodsNew head and neck cancer patients between 1 January 2014 and 1 January 2019 were included. Pathway points were recorded between referral to outpatient clinic, time to multidisciplinary team discussion (MDT) and finally MDT to treatment.
results1,276 new patient referrals were received over a 5-year period. Of these, 136 (10%) were referred via non-primary care pathways. The mean time for urgent suspicion of cancer (USoC) referrals to start treatment was 77 days (15 days over target) and for outpatient secondary care referrals was 102 days (40 days over target) (
conclusionPatients with head and neck cancer referred from other outpatient specialties face delays commencing cancer treatment and are also associated with a greater likelihood of being treated with palliative intent.
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