Treatment delays lead to cancer deaths

The researchers found delays in the system

Lung cancer patients are dying between the time of their diagnosis and the start of treatment, according to researchers in Glasgow.

A study, backed by the Royal College of Radiologists, found the disease becomes inoperable in more than one in five sufferers while they wait weeks for treatment.

Research carried out at the Beatson Institute in Glasgow found that patients' tumours tripled in size in the time it took for their radiotherapy to begin.

It discovered that sufferers can wait on average around 13 weeks between their first hospital visit and the commencement of treatment.

The research, published in the journal Clinical Oncology, looked at 29 Glasgow patients and found that in six cases their tumours were inoperable by the time they were due to start their treatment.

Consultant oncologist Dr Noelle O'Rourke, one of the authors of the report, warned that the problem was not just confined to the patients she had seen.

She told BBC Radio Scotland: "The waiting time is not just a Glasgow problem, it is a national problem and the Royal College has issued a statement emphasising that fact.

"Waiting times are not dissimilar throughout the whole of the UK."

Dr O'Rourke said that while it was difficult to say the six patients had died because of the delay in treatment it had not helped their chances of survival.

She added: "The delay certainly affected their outcome badly."

The consultant warned it was not just lung cancer patients who could be dying needlessly as a result of waiting times.

Dr O'Rourke said: "It is any cancer patient who has a potentially fast growing tumour and that applies to lung cancer, head and neck cancer, cervical cancer and a number of other tumour types."