GP referrals - Referring urgent suspected cancer patients - two week wait referrals

Forms and guidelines

Barts and The London with Tower Hamlets PCT have a set of forms for referring urgent suspected cancers under the two week wait system, based on the revised NICE guidelines updated in June 2005.

According to the RCGP these guidelines represent the most important advance in the early diagnosis and management of cancer within primary care for a long time and will help clinician precision in pinpointing those patients who require urgent referral. They will assist GPs to evaluate the significance of signs and symptoms so that they can distinguish between those many hundreds of patients who might present with common symptoms, for example, tiredness or a cough, and the few who present with the early symptoms of cancer. They also include how GPs should investigate certain symptoms before deciding to refer, and the type of information which GPs should make available to referred patients.

Additionally, there is a leaflet that can be given to each patient you refer for suspected cancer before leaving your surgery or used in the discussion with them.

Download Suspected cancer referrals patient information

The new referral forms and guidelines have undergone extensive consultation across North East London Cancer Network.

There are three different referral times included in the guidelines:

immediate, an acute admission or referral occurring within a few hours, for example with some paediatric and haematological suspected cancers;
urgent, within two weeks,
and non urgent referrals for all other referrals.

GP referrals - Referring urgent suspected cancer patients - two week wait referrals

Forms and guidelines

There are three different referral times included in the guidelines:

Contact numbers

Referral forms