Is a phone consultation any good for diagnosis?

Offline KNiamh over 3 years ago

My partner has had terrible symptoms for many weeks and only just went to GP.
GP sent photo and referral to ENT specialist and 2 days later the hospital phoned to give appointment next week, all very quick yes, but it is a phone consutation.
Will this be any use at all for a cancer diagnosis? It feels like it is an unnecessary step and time wasting as surely he will need a biopsy of the tumour at the very least, blood test? Scan?
He has all the symptoms, tumour on soft pallate, coughing mucus and blood every few minutes, pain in throat, earache and unexplained weightloss. He has smoked and had alcohol all his adult life, age 73 now.
Are phone consultations any use? I am despeately worried and will be grateful for any advice. thank you.

Offline Hamish_G over 3 years ago

Hi KNiamh,
A lot of the steps you describe are used to make the diagnosis of cancer if the doctor thinks the history and appearance of the lump are suspicious.

Pre-COVID a face to face appointment would often only get as far as sharing the history and examining the lump (and other areas in the neck for swollen glands/lymph nodes) before the ENT doctor would then write a list of blood tests, imaging and biopsy all of which would then be scheduled over the next month or two, they would then sit with all the other specialists at an MDT to review the results.
These days some teams have found the fastest way to get all the test plans in place is to have a phone call first, and if they agree investigations are needed they can start scheduling them. So the call might not slow things down but actually because they can do more calls in an afternoon than they could face to face consultations it may actually help get you answers quicker.
Best wishes,
hamish
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Is a phone consultation any good for diagnosis?

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