§ Dr. GibsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate his Department has made of the impact of the two-week wait rule on dermatology waiting times. [174125]
§ Mr. Keith BradleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what assessment he has made of the effect of the two-week wait rule on the management of suspected skin cancers in the North West of England; [175052]
(2) whether his Department plans to conduct an audit of the two-week wait rule for suspected cancer referrals in the North West of England; [175055]
540W(3) what assessment his Department has made of the impact of the two-week wait rule on dermatology waiting times in the North West of England. [175056]
§ Miss Melanie JohnsonA two-week out-patient waiting time standard was introduced for urgently referred cases of suspected skin cancer from October 2000. In the last quarter (October to December 2003), 99.5 per cent. of urgently referred patients with suspected skin cancer were seen within two weeks of urgent referral. We have issued general practitioner cancer referral guidelines to assist GPs in determining which patients need to be referred urgently to see a specialist within two weeks, those patients that can be referred for a routine appointment and patients who can be safely watched at a primary care level. The National Institute for Clinical Excellence is currently reviewing the referral guidelines.
The referral guidelines should be used to agree local referral criteria and referral pathways. All national health service trusts have been encouraged to undertake local audit to assess the impact of the two-week wait on local services and to enable the appropriateness of urgent and routine referrals against the guidelines to be fed back to referring GPs.