GP awareness

Diagnosis and healthcare professional education

Our supporters told us that one of the biggest issues they faced in getting diagnosed was that their symptoms were not recognised by healthcare professionals as being potentially cancerous.

According to the National Sarcoma Survey 2020, around a third of respondents (30%) took more than 6 months after their first appointment to receive an accurate diagnosis, with 17% waiting more than a year.

 

Problems with GP awareness

GPs are often seen as the gateway to diagnosis and this is certainly the case with sarcoma, where they are most often the first point of contact for sarcoma patients.

Sarcoma is uncommon and can present like other diseases, meaning that GPs can sometimes struggle to identify it. When GPs are unaware of its symptoms, patients are told that their symptoms are an incorrect diagnosis.

Only a fifth of sarcomas are diagnosed after an urgent cancer referral from a GP, showing that GPs do not recognise the signs and symptoms of being that of a possible cancer.

What are we doing?

In our report, Delays Cost Lives, we called for an education programme for medical professionals to help improve diagnosis in sarcoma.

We have worked with GatewayC, a free online cancer education platform, to develop a module to educate GPs on the signs and symptoms of sarcoma in the hope to improve early diagnosis, increase sarcoma survival, and enhance patient experience.

The course teaches GPs by using real-life examples and interviews with doctors and patients to show some of the symptoms of sarcoma, as well as past instances of where problems have arisen.

The module is accredited by the Royal College of General Practitioners, which is important as it means that GPs will be able to count it as professional training.

You can find at more about this module on our blog.