GP teams will scour online patients records to identify people over 60 who have the key early warning signs of pancreatic cancer, the 5th most common cause of cancer deaths in the UK, with only 7% of people living five years or more after diagnosis. Amongst these records will be recently diagnosed with diabetes and sudden weight loss as around half of people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer have been diagnosed with diabetes recently.
Even if a patient’s weight is not recorded, GP teams will reach out to patients to check they have not unexpectedly slimmed down and offer them tests if they have new onset diabetes.
Family doctors taking part in the pilot will then contact patients and send them for urgent blood tests and CT scans to rule out cancer.
Most people with pancreatic cancer only recognise symptoms when their disease is at a late stage, but the NHS wants to reach out to people as early as possible so they can get the best treatment.
More than 300 GP practices across England will begin using the initiative; with dozens rolling it out now, and the rest up and running in the autumn.
GP teams already know the signs to look for, but this new scheme provides almost £2 million in targeted funding to help practices reach out to those most at risk and give patients the best chance of being diagnosed earlier. Local GP practices will carry out searches of patient records as part of a three-year pilot using their GP IT systems to identify patients who have the symptoms.
The initiative will test whether dedicated routine searches of patient records can lead to earlier diagnosis of the devastating disease, and better outcomes.
