Is the two week rule of any benefit to patients with oral cancer?

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Is the two week rule of any benefit to patients with oral cancer?
Received 16 June 2004; accepted 24 February 2005
S.C. East, J.L. Stocker, B.S. Avery
British Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

Abstract
In the UK the government introduced the Îtwo week ruleÌ for head and neck cancer in December 2000, which sought to guarantee that any patient with suspected cancer would be seen by a specialist within 2 weeks of being referred. Our aim was to find out whether referral under the Îtwo week ruleÌ resulted in patients being given an appointment and starting treatment faster than those who had been referred urgently directly to a consultant surgeon. A retrospective review of case notes of all patients diagnosed with oral cancer over a six-month period showed that only 3 of 22 were referred under the Îtwo week ruleÌ. A total of 48 referrals under the Îtwo week ruleÌ were recorded during the same period. There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of time waiting for an outpatient appointment and time spent waiting for treatment.

Keywords: Mouth neoplasms, Referral and consultation, Guideline adherence
The James Cook University Hospital, Marton Road, Middlesbrough, TS4 3BW, UK

Corresponding author. Tel.: +44 1642 854281; fax: +44 1642 282683.

PII: S0266-4356(05)00076-8

doi:10.1016/j.bjoms.2005.02.013

© 2005 The British Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Copyright © 2007 Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved

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