2 ms·
Except access to a doctor is not the same as access to the key test, usually a CT in this case. In the NHS, the general practitioners are explicitly set up to b
by ghufran_syed 8y ago
Except access to a doctor is not the same as access to the key test, usually a CT in this case. In the NHS, the general practitioners are explicitly set up to be “gatekeepers” for expensive testing or referral to specialists. So it’s not hard to imagine older patients with symptoms having ct’s delayed in the past for some period of time - and some proportion of these patients, usually older patients, will die of something else before their GBM is discovered. But as people die less of other things, it could uncover more gbm’s
Having worked in the UK and in the US health systems, in general in the UK you have more of a risk of something that could be done, not being done (to save the government money).
Meanwhile, in the US, if you have good insurance, you are more at risk of over-testing and over-treatment (because it reduces the doctor’s perceived legal and complaint risk, and sometimes makes the doctor or hospital more money)