“Patients die earlier in Britain”
An article in the Daily Mail on Thursday 28th May 2015 reported on a study investigating the variation in cancer survival in 11 countries. The byline claimed that “Patients die earlier in Britain because GPs avoid referring them to hospital”. In fact the study did not find this causal link.
Dr Peter Rose, Department of Primary Health Care Sciences, University of Oxford and study author said:
“We showed an association between the readiness of GPs worldwide to refer a patient in a series of scenarios compared with survival rates in their country. We did not find a causal link. Further research is needed to understand the cause of the difference between countries.”
Document type: For The Record
Published: 28 May 2015
Source: Sense About Science
