Characterising the volume and variation of multiple urgent suspected cancer referrals in England, April 2013-March 2018: a national cohort study.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

To establish a methodology to categorise urgent suspected cancer (USC) referrals in England and use these categories to understand individual patient referral patterns by demographic characteristics, financial year and referral pathway.

Design

Cross-sectional population-based cohort study.

Setting

From Cancer Waiting Times data, linked to demographic information held by the National Disease Registration Service, referral-level data on all USC referrals in England between 1 April 2013 and 31 March 2018.

Participants

After restricting records to those with an English postcode at referral and with complete demographic information, 9 524 435 referrals were identified for 7 542 592 patients.

Primary and secondary outcome measures

USC referrals were

SUBMITTER: Roberts K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11979496 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature