2022-001366
- Date of request
- 06 September 2022
- Date of response
- 28 September 2022
- FOI request ID
- 2022-001366
- Population health
Request
I represent Fight Bladder Cancer, a charity that supports people affected by bladder cancer, raises awareness of the causes of bladder cancer and its treatments, campaigns for research into this much-ignored cancer, and works to affect policy at the highest level. Over 20,500 people are diagnosed with invasive and non-invasive bladder cancer each year in the UK. Bladder cancer is not a rare cancer, even though it is hardly ever talked about.
One of the main areas of concern that we work to address is the late diagnosis of bladder cancer patients, which often results in poorer patient outcomes and higher mortality rates. Late diagnosis of bladder cancer patients also creates significantly higher costs in ongoing treatment for the NHS.
Our recently launched Exemplar research report's key findings highlighted the difficulties GPs face when deciding whether to refer patients with possible bladder cancer symptoms for further testing. For example, haematuria (blood in pee) is a symptom of bladder cancer, but the chances of it signifying cancer is quite rare, which creates difficulties for GPs deciding when to refer patients.
Current national guidelines in the UK complicate this further, as patients with differing ages and sexes are recommended for referral depending on the presentation of different symptoms. This particularly impacts women and people aged under 60. Women of all ages with recurrent UTIs face difficulties in getting referred and diagnosed, and younger patients with persistent blood in their urine and repeated UTIs are often not referred very late or not at all.
Given the critical role NHS24 plays in diagnosing and directing patients into hospitals and the primary care system in Scotland, we would like to understand the processes and internal guidelines that NHS24 personnel follow when presented with patients reporting either gross haematuria or recurrent UTIs. Therefore, it would be incredibly useful to us if you were able to share details of NHS24's telephone triage algorithms for haematuria and UTI symptoms and how they work to identify potential bladder cancer patients.
Information request: Details of NHS24's telephone triage algorithms for haematuria and UTI symptoms and how they work to identify potential bladder cancer patients.