Women in England with ‘worrying’ breast lumps are immediately referred to specialists

Women concerned about lumps in their breasts can make an appointment with a specialist via the NHS app, without visiting a GP first, in a pilot program aimed at speeding up cancer diagnosis.

Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, announced the move in a speech to hundreds of GPs at the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) annual conference in Liverpool on Friday.

The trial, which starts in Somerset next month, is part of government plans to get patients with cancer symptoms referred to specialists more quickly and free up more GP appointments.

“From November, 111 online, available through the NHS app, will run a pilot to refer women with a lump of concern directly to a breast clinic,” Streeting told delegates. “That means faster diagnosis for cancer patients and more GP appointments – better for patients and better for GPs.”

Dr. Vin Diwakar, medical director of transformation for NHS England, said the move was an example of how technology has the power to transform healthcare.

“We are pleased to be testing in Somerset whether 111 can refer online women with red flag symptoms for breast cancer checks without them having to see a GP. This is just the start of our plans to bring NHS services to patients through the app.”

Prof. Kamila Hawthorne, president of the RCGP, cautiously welcomed the plan. “It is good to hear that this initiative will be piloted first as, like any new initiative, it will need to be rigorously evaluated in terms of safety and effectiveness before being rolled out more widely.”

The pilot results would be evaluated before a national rollout was considered, the Department of Health and Social Care said.

Sally Kum, associate director of nursing and health information at Breast Cancer Now, said the sooner any changes in a woman’s breasts could be monitored, the better the chance of a successful treatment outcome if cancer was diagnosed.

She said: “We look forward to seeing the results and impact of this pilot project. Critical to its sustainability and success will be that 111’s capacity and resource needs are taken into account when delivering the service.”

Speaking at the RCGP conference, Streeting also pledged to reduce the amount of paperwork GPs had to do.

“I was honestly astonished to hear about a practice that has to fill out more than 150 different forms to refer patients to secondary care,” he said.