GPs help patients skip cancer test queue

GPs are sending non-urgent patients to hospital emergency departments in the hope they will get diagnostic tests for which they would otherwise have to wait up to two years.

Other tactics employed by GPs to beat lengthy delays for their public patients include using personal friendships with consultants to get them squeezed in for tests ahead of the waiting lists.

The Irish Cancer Society has described both practices as unsustainable and called for greatly improved access to diagnostic tests for patients who cannot afford to pay for them privately.