Alert on bowel cancer 'emergencies'

About a quarter of bowel cancer patients in England are only diagnosed with the disease after an emergency admission to hospital, according to research published Monday. This equates to about 8,000 out of 31,000 patients admitted in a 12-month period, the study found. These patients are less likely to have surgery than those whose first admission was not an emergency case, according to the report, which looked at bowel cancer records and hospital data. The finding about diagnosis upon emergency admission was in keeping with research by the National Cancer Intelligence Network about bowel cancer, which was diagnosed in about 31,000 people each year in England and Wales and was the second most common cause of cancer death. It also showed that, for emergency admission patients, 59% (4,540) had surgical intervention and 52% (3, 990) had major surgery. The report was commissioned by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership, the Royal College of Surgeons of England and the Health and Social Care Information Centre. Deborah Alsina, chief executive of the charity Bowel Cancer UK, said: "It is deeply worrying that so many patients are being diagnosed as an emergency when we know that outcomes are worse. There is still more that needs to be done to raise awareness of the symptoms of bowel cancer and the need to address symptoms quickly." She further noted that "this must include targeting older people, women and those from deprived communities who have been shown to be the worst affected." Health Minister Anna Soubry said: "Being first diagnosed via AE is often too late and the outlook for patients at that point can be more bleak".