Vinidh Paleri, Consultant Head and Neck Surgeon at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, shared on LinkedIn:
“Pleased to disseminate this work on determinants of waiting times for head and neck cancer (HNC) treatment in England.
People with HNC experience the longest waiting times for treatment when compared to 10 other cancer sites
The cancers with longest treatment waits revealed – BBC News.
Funded by The Royal Marsden Hospital and The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity our analysis of over 30,000 patients identifies key choke points where measures should be directed at.
This nicely ties in with the rationale for NIHR (National Institute for Health and Care Research) funded EVEREST-HN, which aims to redesign the referral pathway with robust evidence and integrating digital applications for risk stratification into the workflow.
Feasibility stage of EVEREST-HN is underway now.”
Main conclusions of this article:
- The study found that 43% of patients waited more than 62 days from referral to their first treatment, highlighting substantial challenges in meeting recommended cancer treatment timelines.
- Non-urgent referral was the strongest identified predictor of prolonged delays exceeding 90 days (adjusted odds ratio 4.07). The findings emphasize the need to optimize referral and diagnostic pathways and develop targeted interventions to reduce delays, particularly for patients undergoing primary (chemo)radiotherapy.
Title: Waiting times and determinants of delay for head and neck cancer in England-a population cohort study using real world data
Authors: Farizeh Jashek-Ahmed, Orouba Almilaji, Thomas E. Cowling, David W. Hamilton, Kate Walker, Vinidh Paleri
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