More than 100,000 patients have been diagnosed with cancer in A&E over the past five years, alarming new figures suggest.
Experts warn that those who contract it this way usually find themselves in the later stages of the disease, when it is more expensive and difficult to treat and the chances of survival are lower.
It comes amid record dissatisfaction with GPs and long waits for diagnostic tests, with patients often struggling to be seen.
Cancer Research UK described the situation as “unacceptable” and warned it could affect patients’ chances of beating the disease.
Meanwhile, the Catch Up With Cancer campaign said late diagnoses in A&E are a “sure sign that our national approach to cancer is simply not working”.
Experts warn that cancers detected in emergencies are usually in the later stages, when they are more expensive and difficult to treat and the chances of survival are lower.
Patients should usually be referred for cancer checks after seeing their GP with the first symptoms, rather than when they are so ill that they have had to go to an emergency department.
Some 24,159 patients were diagnosed after attending A&E between 2018 and 2023 across the 29 acute NHS trusts in England that responded to freedom of information requests.
Extrapolated to all trusts in England, including those that did not provide data, the real number is likely to be as high as 106,000.
Of the trusts that responded, Kings College Hospital in London recorded the highest number of diagnoses following referral to A&E, with 4,269 between 2018 and 2023.
Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust cared for almost 32 times more patients diagnosed in A&E in 2023 (587) than in 2018 (18), the largest increase in trusts responding.
Studies show that early cancer diagnosis is crucial, as each month of delay in starting treatment typically reduces the chances of survival by 10 percent.
For example, nine in ten people diagnosed with bowel cancer at an early stage, stage one, will survive five years or more, but this figure plummets to just one in ten among those diagnosed. late, in stage four.
Wes Streeting, Labour’s shadow health and social care secretary, who submitted the freedom of information requests (they must be retained), said: “More than 100,000 patients were diagnosed with cancer in A&E in the last five years, and I am one of them”.
‘We have more patients diagnosed in A&E than any other comparable country, which shows we are catching it too late.
‘I was lucky, but too many cancer patients have to wait dangerously long for tests and scans, costing lives.
“Labour’s fully funded plan will allow the NHS to detect cancer early, diagnose it earlier and treat it faster, so cancer doesn’t have to be a death sentence.”
Michelle Mitchell, chief executive of Cancer Research UK, said: “Too many people are diagnosed with cancer late and, in some cases, only when their symptoms become severe enough to require a visit to A&E.”
‘This is unacceptable. We know that detecting cancer as early as possible is crucial to improving outcomes.
Studies show that early cancer diagnosis is crucial, as each month of delay in starting treatment typically reduces the chances of survival by 10 percent.
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK, with approximately 56,000 cases diagnosed per year.
Prostate cancer follows closely, with 52,000 cases diagnosed in men each year.
‘Years of underinvestment in NHS cancer services have left patients, along with their families and loved ones, facing long and anxious waits to find out if they have cancer and start treatment.
“The reforms needed to transform cancer services in England are possible, but we need the next UK government to demonstrate bold leadership on cancer and commit to a long-term strategy in cancer research and care.” .
GPs made 260,108 urgent cancer referrals in April, up from 254,594 in March and also up from 218,324 in April 2023.
The proportion of patients who waited no more than 62 days in April from an urgent referral for suspected cancer or a consultant update to their first definitive cancer treatment was 66.6 per cent, up from 68.7 per cent in March and below the 85 percent target.
According to data from the National Health Service in England, around 73.5 percent of patients in England urgently referred for suspected cancer in April were diagnosed or ruled out within 28 days.
This figure is down from 77.3 percent the previous month and is therefore below the target of 75 percent.
Bowel cancer is the fourth most common cancer, killing 16,800 Britons each year.
Luncheon cancer, although not the most common form of the disease, is a leading cause of cancer death in the UK, with a survival rate of just 10 per cent.
Leading oncologist Professor Pat Price, co-founder of the Catch Up With Cancer campaign and chairman of Radiotherapy UK, said: “That so many cancers are being detected in A&E is a sure sign that our national approach to cancer is simply not working.” It does not work.
‘The whole cancer system is creaking. That is why we need a specific national Plan against Cancer.
‘Obviously, I welcome the efforts to boost screening and diagnosis.
“However, improving diagnosis alone is not enough if we then add patients to a waiting list for treatment that is already too long.
“That is why I urge all concerned politicians to accept the need to also increase treatment capacity, especially in areas such as radiotherapy.”
A Conservative spokesman said cancer survival rates continue to improve and the disease is more often diagnosed at an earlier stage.
10-year survival rates for many common cancers have now surpassed the 50 percent mark, and experts say further improvements could be made in the next decade.
But he added: “We know there is more to do, which is why we have recruited a record number of doctors and nurses and will recruit 92,000 more nurses and 28,000 doctors through our long-term NHS staffing plan.”
‘We have also opened 160 community diagnostic centers and will carry out millions of scans, tests and checks each year to speed up results and start treatment more quickly.
‘Where Labor runs the NHS in Wales, patients are waiting longer to start cancer treatment.
“Their promises to the NHS are completely underfunded – they cannot deliver £6bn worth of scanners with less than £1bn of funding.”