Cancer diagnoses resulting from an urgent referral for suspected cancer
Updated 25 May 2022
Applies to England
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/be-clear-on-cancer-first-national-cervical-screening-saves-lives-campaign/cancer-diagnoses-resulting-from-an-urgent-referral-for-suspected-cancer
This is one of a series of summaries produced for the campaign, each focusing on a different evaluation measure (referred to as a metric) which reflects a key point in the patient pathway. These metrics should not be considered in isolation. Please refer to the considerations when interpreting these results.
Main findings
There was no evidence to suggest the first national ‘Cervical Screening Saves Lives’ campaign had an impact on the numbers of all gynaecological, cervical, and uterine cancer diagnoses resulting from an urgent referral for suspected gynaecological cancer.
Background
This metric considers whether the first national ‘Cervical Screening Saves Lives’ campaign had an impact on the numbers of all gynaecological, cervical, and uterine cancer diagnoses resulting from an urgent referral for suspected gynaecological cancer. Although the primary objective of the campaign was to increase attendance for screening, it is possible that there could be an impact on the number of cancer diagnoses resulting from an urgent referral for suspected gynaecological cancer.
Methods
The number of cancers diagnosed from an urgent referral for suspected gynaecological cancer per month in the National Cancer Waiting Times Monitoring Dataset was provided by NHS England and NHS Improvement. The data was presented by month first seen. The analysis period was March to May 2019 and was compared to the same 3 months in 2018. The analysis considered 3 types of cancers in women: all gynaecological (ICD 10 C51 to C58), cervical (C53), and uterine (C54 to C55).
Results
Figure 1 shows stable trends, with monthly variation in the numbers of all gynaecological, cervical, and uterine cancer diagnoses resulting from an urgent referral for suspected gynaecological cancer from January 2018 to October 2019.
Figure 1: Monthly number of all gynaecological, cervical, and uterine cancer diagnoses resulting from an urgent referral for suspected gynaecological cancer from January 2018 to October 2019 in England.
Comparing March to May 2019 with the same months in the previous year, the following changes were seen in the number of cancer diagnoses resulting from an urgent referral for suspected gynaecological cancer:
- there was a 2.8% increase in the number of all gynaecological cancer diagnoses, however this was not significant (p=0.371)
- there was a 14.3% increase in the number of cervical cancer diagnoses, however this was not significant (p=0.226)
- there was a 4.1% increase in the number of uterine cancer diagnoses, however this was not significant (p=0.314)
- there were no statistically significant changes in the number of all gynaecological, cervical or uterine cancer diagnoses in any age group (<25, 25 to 49, 50 to 64, 65 and over)
Conclusions
There were increases in the numbers of all gynaecological, cervical, and uterine cancer diagnoses resulting from an urgent referral for suspected gynaecological cancer.
However, these were not statistically significant and were in line with the long-term trend.
Get advice on the signs and symptoms of cancer from the NHS website. You can also find out more about the evaluation of Be Clear on Cancer campaigns.