ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: The 2015 National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines widened the referral criteria for the two-week-wait pathway for suspected lower gastrointestinal cancer. We implemented a straight-to-test protocol to accommodate the anticipated increase in referrals. We evaluated the impact of these changes for relevant pathway metrics and clinical outcomes using a retrospective cohort study with historic controls. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We analysed data from all patients referred to a teaching hospital via the two-week-wait pathway for suspected lower gastrointestinal cancer under the previous guidelines between 1 March and 31 August 2015 compared with the same period in 2016, when the updated guidelines and straight-to-test protocol had been implemented. RESULTS: In the 2015 cohort, there were 64 cancer diagnoses from 664 referrals (9.6% pick-up) compared with 58 cancer diagnoses from 954 referrals in the 2016 cohort (6.1% pick-up). Our straight-to-test protocol reduced the median time to cancer diagnosis by 12.5 days (P < 0.001) and reduced the median time to cancer treatment by 7.5 days (P < 0.05) An increased proportion of non-colorectal cancers were diagnosed in 2016 compared with 2015, (37.9% vs 17.2%, P < 0.05) and more adenomas were removed in 2016 compared with 2015 (377 vs 193). DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Our straight-to-test protocol has resulted in a reduction in times to cancer diagnosis and cancer treatment, despite an increase in the number of referrals. The new referral criteria have considerable resource implications, but their implementation did not result in an increase in the total number of cancers diagnosed.
Subject(s)
Adenoma/diagnosis , Colorectal Neoplasms/diagnosis , Early Detection of Cancer/standards , Referral and Consultation/standards , Adenoma/therapy , Adult , Aged , Clinical Protocols , Colorectal Neoplasms/therapy , Early Detection of Cancer/methods , Early Detection of Cancer/statistics & numerical data , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Practice Guidelines as Topic , Referral and Consultation/statistics & numerical data , Retrospective Studies , Time Factors , United Kingdom , Waiting ListsSubject(s)
Delivery of Health Care , Mass Screening/organization & administration , Ophthalmology/organization & administration , Retinopathy of Prematurity/diagnosis , Delivery of Health Care/organization & administration , Delivery of Health Care/standards , England , Humans , Infant, Newborn , Ophthalmology/standards , Telemedicine/organization & administration , Telemedicine/standardsABSTRACT
The Poisons Information Centre at the Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital in Cape Town makes use of a microcomputer for information retrieval. An outline is given of the data base design and the manner in which data were collected and collated. User operation of the system is described and its effect on the efficiency of the service noted.
