The recently updated ‘Routes to Diagnosis’ dataset has revealed a significant improvement in the diagnosis of certain cancers. ‘Routes to Diagnosis’ is the most comprehensive global dataset encompassing more than 3 million cancer cases.
As per the dataset statistics, a remarkable improvement was witnessed in the way certain cancers are being diagnosed across England; however, there are still some areas with scope for improvement.
Cancer diagnoses from emergency presentations fell from 24% in 2006 to 20% in 2015. There was also a growth in diagnoses through urgent GP referrals (2-week waits) from 25% in 2005 to 37% in 2015. Rates for pancreatic cancer diagnosed through emergency presentation (associated with worst outcomes) saw a 6% drop, whereas rates for colorectal cancers diagnosed through the national bowel screening programme (associated with best survival rates) stayed under 10%.
The updated dataset also features a new interactive tool capable of showing trends in cancer diagnosis for 53 cancer types, which will help doctors and managers understand the differences in cancers and improvements in survival rates.
Sir Harpal Kumar, chief executive of Cancer Research UK, expressed his pleasure at the reduction in the proportion of individuals being diagnosed as an emergency, but said that a lot more needs to be done considering 40,000 cancer cases still being diagnosed in Accident and Emergency across England.
