GPs Are Failing To Send Patients For Cancer Checks Because They Don't want To 'Scare Them'

GPs are failing to send patients for cancer checks because they don't want to cause alarm, new research shows.

An in-depth study of family doctors found that fear of “scaring” patients meant cases which should have been urgently referred were not sent to specialists.


The research by Birmingham University examined the reasons why GPs did not send patients to see a specialist, despite symptoms of bowel cancer which should have been checked out.

Family doctors said the fear of scaring patients, and financial pressures to cut costs meant that cases of cancer were too often missed.

The research involved 30 interviews with GPs and practice managers, who were asked how they took decisions to refer patients with possible signs of bowel cancer.

In some cases, GPs’ ignorance of symptoms which required urgent follow up was to blame. In others, “resource constraints” meant doctors felt under pressure to keep referral rates down, in order to reduce the amount the NHS spent on tests.

Researchers said there was “evidence of GPs holding back from discussing cancer and avoiding referral in order to prevent patients from becoming scared.”

One said: “You don’t want to scare the patient away, I’d be referring a lot of patients unnecessarily and building up their anxiety as well.” Another said patients who were thought to be anxious might be less likely to be referred.

One said they tended to wait until they had more concrete evidence of symptoms before making a referral, for fear their patient would have “a mental breakdown”.

GPs said they were warned by NHS managers that “budgets are very stretched and people are referring too much.”

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