Patients with cancer in the UK often have multiple consultations with their family doctor before diagnosis, which is partly due to different symptoms each cancer type presents. Tumours with one main symptom and a simple investigative pathway are easier to diagnose, but structural investigational barriers also contribute to delayed diagnosis.
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W. Hamilton declares that he holds research grants on cancer diagnostics from the UK Department of Health, where he is also an unpaid member of some committees tasked with provision of cancer diagnostic services in England. He is also the unpaid clinical leader on the current revision of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines on cancer diagnosis.
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Hamilton, W. Cancer diagnosis in UK primary care. Nat Rev Clin Oncol 9, 251–252 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrclinonc.2012.63
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrclinonc.2012.63
