GPs sometimes take more than a month to record ovarian cancer diagnosis, new research has revealed.
In one in ten cases, family doctors take more than four weeks to record specialist diagnosis of the illness, according to a new issue of the British Medical Journal (BMJ) online.
The data showed ovarian cancer was also prematurely or incorrectly classified by GPs in 11 per cent of cases.
Authors of the study used free text information, created during consultations or correspondence with GPs, to produce the data.
"For diseases which rely on hospital consultants for diagnosis, free text (particularly letters) is invaluable for accurate dating of diagnosis and referrals and also for identifying misclassified cases," the authors concluded.
Recently, Ciaran Devane, chief executive at Macmillan Cancer Support, said earlier diagnosis of ovarian cancer could lead to an improvement in survival rates.
"Cancer is no longer necessarily a death sentence, and NHS and social health care services need to adapt [their long-term care strategy] to reflect this," he said.
The data showed ovarian cancer was also prematurely or incorrectly classified by GPs in 11 per cent of cases.
Authors of the study used free text information, created during consultations or correspondence with GPs, to produce the data.
"For diseases which rely on hospital consultants for diagnosis, free text (particularly letters) is invaluable for accurate dating of diagnosis and referrals and also for identifying misclassified cases," the authors concluded.
Recently, Ciaran Devane, chief executive at Macmillan Cancer Support, said earlier diagnosis of ovarian cancer could lead to an improvement in survival rates.
"Cancer is no longer necessarily a death sentence, and NHS and social health care services need to adapt [their long-term care strategy] to reflect this," he said.
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