Treatment of cancer in Britain frequently involves

- late diagnosis
- delayed investigation through scans and other tests
- tests using less than ideal equipment
- non-use of the latest drugs
- delayed treatment

The Daily Mail has pulled together a useful article describing some of the treatments and investigations which a cancer patient in Britain may not get.

Here is one section on PET scanners:

Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scans are immensely sophisticated, showing how body tissues are working. But they're expensive, so many surgeons have to rely on the results of a CT scan (computerised tomography) which is less detailed.

It means in some cases it is only when the surgeon begins operating that they realise a patient is not suitable for surgery, because there are tumours the CT scan hadn't spotted.

Dr Fox adds: 'The last thing a patient needs is an operation that's useless.'

An estimated 20 per cent of operations have to be aborted because of this.

Concerned patients can ask their specialist to refer them to a hospital with a PET scanner, says Dr Fox. However, they might not be granted their request.

I expect there are figures available on the number of PET scanners in Britain per million of population compared with the equivalent fitures for other countries. If anyone is willing to obtain and send me the figures, I will upload them.

Posted by James Bartholomew • Indexed in NHS

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