A study looking at what happens before lung or bowel cancer are diagnosed (Empress study)

If your GP suspects you have cancer, they will arrange an urgent referral for you to see a specialist. You are usually seen within 2 weeks and have a number of tests to check for cancer. But other people might be diagnosed as an emergency, via A&E, or after being sent straight to hospital by a GP.

In this study, researchers want to compare:

• people who were diagnosed after their GP made an urgent referral to a specialist with
• people who were diagnosed after going to the hospital as an emergency

The researchers want to look at any differences between the 2 groups. For example differences in their:

• age
• sex
• symptoms and how far the cancer had grown or spread
• social background (socio economic status)

They also plan to find out more about any differences in experiences of health care. For example, are people diagnosed at the hospital less likely to have seen their GP about their symptoms first.

The aims of the study are:

• to better understand what happens to people in the year before diagnosis
• to find out why people are diagnosed as an emergency rather than through their GP
• to use the information collected to help reduce the number of people diagnosed as an emergency in the future

Joining this study will not change your treatment, and you won’t get any direct benefit from taking part. The researchers hope that the information they collect will help to improve the way people with lung and bowel cancer are diagnosed in the future.