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Yvette Cooper, Public Health Minister, today launchednew cancer referral guidelines to help GPs identify patients who might have cancer and need to be seen urgently within the Government's new two week standard.

The referral guidelines are part of the Government's drive to modernise cancer services and provide fairer, faster access to cancer care. Issued by the NHS Executive, they will make it easier for GPs to identify those patients who need to be fast tracked for urgent investigation.

12 cancer areas are covered in the guidance - breast, lung, bowel, stomach, gynaecological, urological, haematological cancers, skin, brain and central nervous system, head and neck, bone and children's tumours. The guidance identifies symptoms which could indicate cancer.

Welcoming the guidelines Ms Cooper, said:

The two week standard is an integral part of this Government's modernising cancer programme. We need to put patients at the heart of our care programme and to listen to their needs. Patients who think they might have cancer want to see a specialist quickly.

These guidelines will help identify those patients and ensure that they are referred and seen urgently. This will ease the anxiety and stress of waiting for appointments to see cancer specialists for the thousands of people who are referred for further investigations by their GPs every year.

"An average GP will see eight or nine new patients with cancer each year but will see many times that number of patients with possible cancer. These referral guidelines are there to help GPs; it is about recognising the difficulties involved and making sure the right patients are seen."

From April, the Government will start to roll out the guarantee of a specialist outpatient appointment within two weeks of a GP referring a patient for urgent investigation.

Ms Cooper added:

"We have already seen that the two-week referral standard is helping to reduce anxiety for thousands of women with suspected breast cancer. By the end of this year this high standard of care will be extended to all patients urgently referred by their GP with suspicions of cancer for a specialist investigation."

Professor Mike Richards, National Cancer Director, said:

"Over the rest of this year we will be implementing the two-week waiting time standard for all cancers. This will benefit the thousands of patients who are referred to specialists by their GPs with suspicions of cancer. But this is just part of the Government's overall plan to modernise cancer services. We are determined to bring more specialists on stream as quickly as possible to ensure that patients with any type of cancer are rapidly diagnosed and treated."

Notes to Editors

1. The new NHS gives a commitment to provide prompt access to specialist services so that by the end of the year 2000 patients with a suspected cancer will be able to see a specialist within two weeks of their GP deciding they need to be seen urgently and requesting an appointment. These arrangements have been in place since April 1999 for cases of suspected breast cancers and are being put in place for all other cases of suspected cancer during 2000.

2. The referral guidelines are being distributed to every GP in England, Primary Care Groups/Trusts, Health Authorities and NHS Trusts. They were developed by a national Steering Group chaired by Professor Mike Richards, the National Cancer Director;established by the Department of Health in association with relevant Royal Colleges. The guidelines for each tumour group were prepared by Working Parties chaired by an expert in the relevant cancer area with input from primary care, public health medicine, nursing, radiology and other disciplines as necessary. They were widely consulted upon over the winter. Subsequent revision will be undertaken by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence.

3. Cancer causes 156,000 deaths in the UK every year and two in five of the population of the population will develop cancer in their lifetime.

4. The White PaperSaving Lives: Our Healthier Nation, sets out the Government's commitment to reduce the death rate from cancer amongst people aged under 75 by at least a further fifth by 2010. This will involve action on prevention, screening and treatment which will together aim to prevent 100,000 deaths.

5. Additional resources for cancer services announced by the Government include:

6. "On the spot" style booking systems for cancer services, supported by £6million of funding will significantly improve patient care by radically speeding up diagnosis of cancer and reducing delays at every stage of the process from diagnosis to treatment and follow-up care by :Over the next 2-years £6 million will be invested in nine cancer centres from across the NHS, covering 14 million people. The centres will streamline care at every stage of a patient's treatment from diagnosis to treatment and follow-up care. The aim is to reduce delays at every stage of the process and keep the patient fully informed at all stages of what will happen next.

7. Press notice 2000/0147 gives the latest details of the figures for the two-week breast cancer wait. The statistics are returned centrally by every health authority every quarter, from information supplied by every Trust.

8. For further information contact Department of Health media centre on 0171 210 5228/5707.