GPs in England are being urged to \u00ab\u00a0think again\u00a0\u00bb if they see a sick patient three times and can’t pin down a diagnosis, or find their symptoms are getting worse.<\/p>\n
The new NHS initiative, called Jess’s Rule, is named after Jessica Brady who contacted her GP on more than 20 occasions after starting to feel unwell in the summer of 2020.<\/p>\n
She was told her symptoms were related to long Covid and that she was \u00ab\u00a0too young for cancer\u00a0\u00bb. She died from advanced stage 4 cancer later that year, aged 27.<\/p>\n
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said her death was \u00ab\u00a0a preventable and unnecessary tragedy\u00a0\u00bb and the rule would improve patient safety by helping GPs \u00ab\u00a0catch potentially deadly illnesses\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
Jessica Brady was a talented engineer at Airbus, involved in the design of satellites.<\/p>\n
Her mum, Andrea, told Radio 4’s Today programme that Jess was a very healthy young woman when the pandemic hit in 2020.<\/p>\n
But in July of that year, she didn’t feel right and contacted her GP practice repeatedly over the next five months about her symptoms.<\/p>\n
Over time they became \u00ab\u00a0increasingly debilitating\u00a0\u00bb, Andrea says.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0She had unintentionally lost quite a lot of weight, had night sweats, chronic fatigue, a persistent cough and very enlarged lymph nodes.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0But because of her age, it was obviously considered there wasn’t anything wrong.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
Jess had contact with six different doctors at her GP surgery and three face-to-face consultations with a family doctor, but no referral to a specialist was made.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0Her body was failing her,\u00a0\u00bb says Andrea.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0It was hard for Jess to advocate for herself. She was saying ‘What’s the point? Nothing will happen.'\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
When the family decided to arrange a private appointment and she was referred to a specialist, it was too late.<\/p>\n
Jess was given a terminal cancer diagnosis in November and died three weeks later – just days before Christmas 2020.<\/p>\n
The family hopes Jess’s Rule will help to increase awareness of the importance of GPs acting quickly for patients who are steadily deteriorating.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0She wanted to make a difference,\u00a0\u00bb Andrea says.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0Jess knew her delayed diagnosis was instrumental in the fact she had no treatment options open to her, only palliative care.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0She felt strongly she didn’t want this to happen to other people.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
Jess’s Rule is not a law, but a strong reminder to GPs to take a \u00ab\u00a0three strikes and rethink approach\u00a0\u00bb. That means taking action after three appointments with a patient whose condition isn’t improving, to prevent avoidable deaths.<\/p>\n
This could mean arranging face-to-face consultations with a patient previously only spoken to on the phone, ordering extra tests or asking for a second opinion from a colleague. GPs should also consider referring patients to a specialist.<\/p>\n
The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP), which was involved in drawing up the guidance, said no doctor ever wanted to miss signs of serious illness, such as cancer.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0Many conditions, including many cancers, are challenging to identify in primary care because the symptoms are often similar to other, less serious and more common conditions,\u00a0\u00bb said Prof Kamila Hawthorne, chair of RCGP.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0If a patient repeatedly presents with the same or similar symptoms, but the treatment plan does not seem to be making them better – or their condition is deteriorating – it is best practice to review the diagnosis and consider alternative approaches.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
Research suggests younger patients and people from ethnic minority backgrounds often face delays before being diagnosed with a serious condition, because their symptoms aren’t similar to those of white or older patients.<\/p>\n
RCGP has worked with Jess Brady’s family to develop an educational resource for GPs on the early diagnosis of cancer in young adults.<\/p>\n
The Department of Health said many GP practices already used the correct approach, but that Jess’ s Rule would make this \u00ab\u00a0standard practice across the country\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting thanked Jess’s family, saying they had campaigned tirelessly through \u00ab\u00a0unimaginable grief\u00a0\u00bb to ensure Jessica’s legacy helps to save the lives of others.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0Patient safety must be the bedrock of the NHS, and Jess’s Rule will make sure every patient receives the thorough, compassionate, and safe care that they deserve, while supporting our hard-working GPs to catch potentially deadly illnesses,\u00a0\u00bb he said.<\/p>\n
Paul Callaghan, from Healthwatch England, which represents people who use health and social care services, said the rule should be implemented \u00ab\u00a0quickly and consistently\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0It’s also imperative that specialist teams have the resources to deal with potential increases in demand, resulting from increased referrals,\u00a0\u00bb he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
GPs in England are being urged to \u00ab\u00a0think again\u00a0\u00bb if they see a sick patient three times and can’t pin down a diagnosis, or find their symptoms are getting worse. The new NHS initiative, called Jess’s Rule, is named after Jessica Brady who contacted her GP on more than 20 occasions after starting to feel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9198","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9198\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}