- Stephen H Bradley, general practitioner and NIHR academic clinical lecturer1,
- Igor Francetic, research fellow in health economics2
- 1School of Medicine, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
- 2University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
- medsbra{at}leeds.ac.uk
Cancer is the UK’s leading cause of death,1 and, as Mathew notes, the UK’s record compares unfavourably with those of other high income countries.2 Mathew is concerned that thresholds for two week wait referrals in the NHS have evolved without supporting health economic evaluation. But any proposed resource reallocation should also be informed by adequate evidence, rather than simply assuming that cancer funding would be better spent elsewhere.
Two week wait pathways probably …