RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 General practitioner (GP) communication with potential lung cancer patients; review of practices prior to onward secondary care referral
JF European Respiratory Journal
JO Eur Respir J
FD European Respiratory Society
SP p4431
VO 38
IS Suppl 55
A1 Selva Selvaraj
A1 Kate Garbett
A1 Julia McAdam
A1 Koottalai Srinivasan
A1 Harmesh Moudgil
YR 2011
UL http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/38/Suppl_55/p4431.abstract
AB Background: Anecdotally, there is heterogeneity in what patients understand as to why they are being asked to urgently attend respiratory clinics for suspected lung cancer; this is partly because of accelerated referral pathways after initial abnormal radiology and potentially bypassing direct contact in primary care.Aim: We investigated patients referred to our urgent lung cancer referral pathway and report (1) how and what patients are told prior to attending secondary care clinics, (2) how these findings relate to subsequent outcomes, and (3) the performance status of patients at the point of initial review.Results: Over a 4 month period to August 2010, of 107 referrals, 95 (89%) had complete data available for analysis. Mean (range) age was 65.8 (29-95) years. 51 (54%) are male. 79/95 (83%) had prior information from their GP with no home consultations, 15 (19%) had been contacted by telephone, 4 (5%) had received letter, and 60 (76%) had attended the GP surgery. 8 (10%) had been told that they had a possible or definite lung cancer, 54 (68%) had been told they had abnormal chest x-ray findings, and 17 (22%) had been told they were being referred for investigation. Performance status was, respectively from 0 to 4, 36 (38%), 34 (36%), 18 (19%), 6 (6%), and 1 (1%).Conclusions: Results confirm the variation in referral routes and methods as well as the wide age range referred under this urgent system, but with only 23 (24%) patients with an eventual outcome of lung cancer. Results further emphasize the need to balance any direct and early information from the GP priming the patient before subsequent consultation in secondary care.