Gleneagles Global Hospitals releases Painful Wait

Gleneagles Global Hospitals today released its ‘Painful Wait’ report that aims at highlighting the difficulties faced by cancer patients during their journey from diagnosis to treatment and thereby identify the key ‘Painful Wait’ areas. This is a national level study commissioned by Gleneagles Global Hospitals in collaboration with CubeX Sorento Health.

The main Painful Wait areas that have been identified include initial symptom recognition and diagnosis, access to cancer diagnostic tests, multiple diagnostic tests, time taken from diagnosis to confirmation, poor access to oncologists, initiation of treatment, satisfaction with hospitals and cost of treatment.

In the area of initial symptom recognition, there is a stark contradiction in the perceived ability of family physicians to understand the symptoms. Respondents in the south (97 per cent) said their family physicians were effective in understanding the symptoms. However, respondents in East (71 per cent), West (69 per cent) and North (47 per cent) opined that their family physicians could not gauge the signs of cancer to correctly route them to specialist.

Delay in effectively gauging the signs of cancer at the primary care level delays timely diagnosis and treatment. Hence, the ability of the family physician to gauge early signs of cancer and patient awareness is crucial reported the study.

With regard to screening and diagnosis, less than half the respondents (46 percent) reported that cancer was detected at stage one; lowest being in the west (39 percent) and North (20 percent) were diagnosed at stage IV. While, 70 percent respondents got confirmation of diagnosis within three months, in west and south the value is low. This indicates the need for faster access to specialized tests and the availability of timely tests results and accurate interpretation to initiate treatment.

Multiple diagnostic tests were another area of concern. About seven out of every 10 respondents had to perform several tests on visiting different oncologists. Every respondent in the south (100 percent) and 70 percent from the north had to re-do the tests. Poor access to oncologists is a key concern of diagnosis (49 percent). Faster access to cancer specialists will avoid repeated/multiple tests and agony of patients, commented the study.

Most respondents stated that their expectations from hospitals included accessibility to cancer specialists, quality and expertise of doctors, counseling services, cleanliness and hygiene and all-under-one-roof availability. In the south, especially Chennai, satisfaction level with most parameters while choosing a hospital are higher than other regions. Patient engagement through counseling and timely access to healthcare facilities are clear need gaps to be fulfilled.

Respondents shared that costly treatment options, re-emergence of cancer, lack of counseling to deal with the emotional stress and access to oncologists were the key areas of concern in their personal experience.