§ Mr. SwayneTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent discussions have taken place between his Department and representatives of general practitioners regarding guidelines on the levels of clinical suspicion in cancer diagnosis; and when those discussions took place. [95112]
§ Yvette Cooper[holding answer 25 October 1999]: In May 1999, the Department brought together a Cancer Referral Steering Group, including cancer specialists and general practitioners, including representatives from the Royal College of General Practitioners to lead work to 450W develop cancer referral guidelines to help general practitioners identify more easily those patients with symptoms that could be cancer and require urgent investigation. There will be wide ranging consultation on the draft guidelines, nationally and locally, in which GPs and others will be invited to take part.