BMJ Open 2020;10:e033008. 10 January 2020. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2019-033008
- Patients with non-specific symptoms have not typically had access to a dedicated referral pathway. To address this imbalance, ACE piloted the Multidisciplinary Diagnostic Centre (MDC) concept in England over the period 2017-2018. To better understand the current experience of this cohort of patients ACE linked cancer registrations from 2014 with primary care information from the National Cancer and Diagnosis Audit. This paper compares MDC-similar patients (those with non-specific symptoms) to those who had a symptom which would usually result in an urgent referral.
- Analyses showed that non-specific symptoms patients were more likely to be diagnosed at stage 4, have multiple visits to the GP and experience longer primary care intervals. Differences in the diagnostic pathway show that patients with symptoms mirroring the MDC referral criteria could benefit from a new referral pathway.
