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NCIN research Routes to Diagnosis released today finds that a third of cancer in the over 70s – around 38,000 a year in England - are diagnosed through emergency admission to hospital.
Prof Jane Maher, Chief Medical Officer, Macmillan Cancer Support, says:
“It is appalling that so many cancer patients are still diagnosed through emergency admissions, with 65% of them over 70[1]. This route to diagnosis can have a disastrous impact on survival chances. “It can be more difficult to spot cancer symptoms in older people who have other health conditions but this does not excuse such a high number of people being diagnosed in this way. “All cancer patients should be given the best possible survival chance and we owe it to the older members of our society to ensure that this applies equally to them.”
“It is appalling that so many cancer patients are still diagnosed through emergency admissions, with 65% of them over 70[1]. This route to diagnosis can have a disastrous impact on survival chances.
“It can be more difficult to spot cancer symptoms in older people who have other health conditions but this does not excuse such a high number of people being diagnosed in this way.
“All cancer patients should be given the best possible survival chance and we owe it to the older members of our society to ensure that this applies equally to them.”
Andrea Shufflebotham, Senior Media & PR Officer 0207 840 4689 (out of hours 07801 307068) ashuffllebotham@macmillan.org.uk|
1. Routes to diagnosis for cancer – determining the patient journey using multiple routine data set. L Elliss-Brookes, S McPhail, A Ives, M Greenslade, J Shelton, S Hiom and M Richards British Journal of Cancer doi:10.1038/bjc.2012.408
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