What is suspected cancer pathway?
The Oxford Suspected Cancer (SCAN) Pathway aims to reduce the time that patients who have vague symptoms that could be cancer wait to be diagnosed. In doing this, we also aim to increase the number of patients that are diagnosed at an early stage in their illness.
What is a 2 week referral?
What is a ‘Two Week Wait’ referral? A ‘Two Week Wait’ referral is a request from your General Practitioner (GP) to ask the hospital for an urgent appointment for you, because you have symptoms that might indicate that you have cancer.
What does suspected cancer mean?
If a disease is diagnosed early, treatment can be more effective with better outcomes. So if there is a possibility that your symptoms could indicate cancer, you will be referred urgently to see a specialist (on what is called a “Suspected Cancer Referral”).
Does an urgent referral mean I have cancer?
An urgent referral is one way that your doctor can refer you to hospital. It means that you have symptoms that could be due to cancer, although they are usually due to other conditions.
How quick is an urgent referral?
Urgent referrals The referral is considered urgent because the specialist needs to arrange investigations quickly to try to establish what is wrong. An urgent referral means that the patient will be offered an appointment at a hospital within two weeks.
When do you get referred to an oncologist?
You will likely be referred to an oncologist if your doctor suspects that you have the disease. Your primary care physician may carry out tests to determine if you might have cancer. If there are any signs of cancer, your doctor may recommend visiting an oncologist as soon as possible.
Does a referral to an oncologist mean you have cancer?
Should I be worried about an urgent referral?
It is normal to worry when you are urgently referred to see a specialist by your GP. However, more than 9 in every 10 people (90%) referred this way will not be diagnosed with cancer.
What is classed as an urgent referral?
An urgent referral means that the patient will be offered an appointment at a hospital within two weeks. It is important when sending a referral letter that it is marked clearly as urgent or non-urgent.