{"id":1036,"date":"2023-08-23T10:41:25","date_gmt":"2023-08-23T10:41:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/?p=1036"},"modified":"2023-08-23T10:41:25","modified_gmt":"2023-08-23T10:41:25","slug":"direct-access-to-cancer-diagnostics-the-promise-and-perils-of-bypassing-gps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/2023\/08\/23\/direct-access-to-cancer-diagnostics-the-promise-and-perils-of-bypassing-gps\/","title":{"rendered":"Direct access to cancer diagnostics: the promise and perils of bypassing GPs"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Steve Barclay, has confirmed the UK government is considering plans to allow patients in England to bypass their GP and directly access some diagnostic tests for suspected cancer. The clinical and cost-effectiveness of these new diagnostic pathways must be compared with alternative solutions such as investing more in core NHS general practice services. My article in the British Medical Journal<\/a> discusses some of the key issues and challenges in implementing this radical new policy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Steve Barclay, has confirmed the UK government is considering plans to allow patients in England to bypass their GP and directly access some diagnostic tests for suspected cancer. The clinical and cost-effectiveness of these new diagnostic pathways must be compared with alternative solutions such as investing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1115,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[20750],"class_list":["post-1036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-primary-care"],"yoast_head":"\nDirect access to cancer diagnostics: the promise and perils of bypassing GPs - Medical Centre<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/2023\/08\/23\/direct-access-to-cancer-diagnostics-the-promise-and-perils-of-bypassing-gps\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Direct access to cancer diagnostics: the promise and perils of bypassing GPs - Medical Centre\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Steve Barclay, has confirmed the UK government is considering plans to allow patients in England to bypass their GP and directly access some diagnostic tests for suspected cancer. The clinical and cost-effectiveness of these new diagnostic pathways must be compared with alternative solutions such as investing […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/2023\/08\/23\/direct-access-to-cancer-diagnostics-the-promise-and-perils-of-bypassing-gps\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medical Centre\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-08-23T10:41:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Azeem Majeed\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Azeem Majeed\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/2023\/08\/23\/direct-access-to-cancer-diagnostics-the-promise-and-perils-of-bypassing-gps\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/2023\/08\/23\/direct-access-to-cancer-diagnostics-the-promise-and-perils-of-bypassing-gps\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Azeem Majeed\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/#\/schema\/person\/b22e0e53db849fda7de9e32c14d3df25\"},\"headline\":\"Direct access to cancer diagnostics: the promise and perils of bypassing GPs\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-08-23T10:41:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/2023\/08\/23\/direct-access-to-cancer-diagnostics-the-promise-and-perils-of-bypassing-gps\/\"},\"wordCount\":95,\"commentCount\":0,\"keywords\":[\"Primary Care\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/2023\/08\/23\/direct-access-to-cancer-diagnostics-the-promise-and-perils-of-bypassing-gps\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/2023\/08\/23\/direct-access-to-cancer-diagnostics-the-promise-and-perils-of-bypassing-gps\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/2023\/08\/23\/direct-access-to-cancer-diagnostics-the-promise-and-perils-of-bypassing-gps\/\",\"name\":\"Direct access to cancer diagnostics: the promise and perils of bypassing GPs - Medical Centre\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-08-23T10:41:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/#\/schema\/person\/b22e0e53db849fda7de9e32c14d3df25\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/2023\/08\/23\/direct-access-to-cancer-diagnostics-the-promise-and-perils-of-bypassing-gps\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/2023\/08\/23\/direct-access-to-cancer-diagnostics-the-promise-and-perils-of-bypassing-gps\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/2023\/08\/23\/direct-access-to-cancer-diagnostics-the-promise-and-perils-of-bypassing-gps\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Direct access to cancer diagnostics: the promise and perils of bypassing GPs\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/\",\"name\":\"Medical Centre\",\"description\":\"Updates from Imperial College London's Professor of Primary Care\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/#\/schema\/person\/b22e0e53db849fda7de9e32c14d3df25\",\"name\":\"Azeem Majeed\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d2985c036ad0b1b454e88876b26c4c477be22a2218f7b5ce5e589d35efd30d78?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d2985c036ad0b1b454e88876b26c4c477be22a2218f7b5ce5e589d35efd30d78?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d2985c036ad0b1b454e88876b26c4c477be22a2218f7b5ce5e589d35efd30d78?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Azeem Majeed\"},\"description\":\"I am Professor of Primary Care and Public Health, and Head of the Department of Primary Care & Public Health at Imperial College London. I am also involved in postgraduate education and training in both general practice and public health, and I am the Course Director of the Imperial College Master of Public Health (MPH) programme.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.imperial.ac.uk\/people\/a.majeed\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/author\/amajeed\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Direct access to cancer diagnostics: the promise and perils of bypassing GPs - Medical Centre","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/2023\/08\/23\/direct-access-to-cancer-diagnostics-the-promise-and-perils-of-bypassing-gps\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Direct access to cancer diagnostics: the promise and perils of bypassing GPs - Medical Centre","og_description":"The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Steve Barclay, has confirmed the UK government is considering plans to allow patients in England to bypass their GP and directly access some diagnostic tests for suspected cancer. The clinical and cost-effectiveness of these new diagnostic pathways must be compared with alternative solutions such as investing […]","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/2023\/08\/23\/direct-access-to-cancer-diagnostics-the-promise-and-perils-of-bypassing-gps\/","og_site_name":"Medical Centre","article_published_time":"2023-08-23T10:41:25+00:00","author":"Azeem Majeed","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Azeem Majeed","Estimated reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/2023\/08\/23\/direct-access-to-cancer-diagnostics-the-promise-and-perils-of-bypassing-gps\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/2023\/08\/23\/direct-access-to-cancer-diagnostics-the-promise-and-perils-of-bypassing-gps\/"},"author":{"name":"Azeem Majeed","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/#\/schema\/person\/b22e0e53db849fda7de9e32c14d3df25"},"headline":"Direct access to cancer diagnostics: the promise and perils of bypassing GPs","datePublished":"2023-08-23T10:41:25+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/2023\/08\/23\/direct-access-to-cancer-diagnostics-the-promise-and-perils-of-bypassing-gps\/"},"wordCount":95,"commentCount":0,"keywords":["Primary Care"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/2023\/08\/23\/direct-access-to-cancer-diagnostics-the-promise-and-perils-of-bypassing-gps\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/2023\/08\/23\/direct-access-to-cancer-diagnostics-the-promise-and-perils-of-bypassing-gps\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/2023\/08\/23\/direct-access-to-cancer-diagnostics-the-promise-and-perils-of-bypassing-gps\/","name":"Direct access to cancer diagnostics: the promise and perils of bypassing GPs - Medical Centre","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-08-23T10:41:25+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/#\/schema\/person\/b22e0e53db849fda7de9e32c14d3df25"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/2023\/08\/23\/direct-access-to-cancer-diagnostics-the-promise-and-perils-of-bypassing-gps\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/2023\/08\/23\/direct-access-to-cancer-diagnostics-the-promise-and-perils-of-bypassing-gps\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/2023\/08\/23\/direct-access-to-cancer-diagnostics-the-promise-and-perils-of-bypassing-gps\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Direct access to cancer diagnostics: the promise and perils of bypassing GPs"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/","name":"Medical Centre","description":"Updates from Imperial College London's Professor of Primary Care","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/#\/schema\/person\/b22e0e53db849fda7de9e32c14d3df25","name":"Azeem Majeed","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d2985c036ad0b1b454e88876b26c4c477be22a2218f7b5ce5e589d35efd30d78?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d2985c036ad0b1b454e88876b26c4c477be22a2218f7b5ce5e589d35efd30d78?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d2985c036ad0b1b454e88876b26c4c477be22a2218f7b5ce5e589d35efd30d78?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Azeem Majeed"},"description":"I am Professor of Primary Care and Public Health, and Head of the Department of Primary Care & Public Health at Imperial College London. I am also involved in postgraduate education and training in both general practice and public health, and I am the Course Director of the Imperial College Master of Public Health (MPH) programme.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.imperial.ac.uk\/people\/a.majeed"],"url":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/author\/amajeed\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1115"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1036"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1036\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1037,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1036\/revisions\/1037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}