All referrals must be received via SCI Gateway.

Before referring a patient to this Service


We ask that the GP arranges the following preliminary investigations before referral:

Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Service Bundle

  • FBC, U&E, LFT’s, Calcium
  • Ferritin, Transferrin
  • Coeliac (TTG) antibodies
  • TFT, Glucose and HbA1c
  • PSA (men)
  • CA125 (women)

Referral criteria

Patients aged 18+ with one or more of the following unexplained symptoms may be referred to the Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Service:

  • Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Service investigations have been requested
  • There is no other urgent referral pathway suitable for this clinical scenario
  • GP Clinical Suspicion of a serious disease that could be due to cancer / GP “gut feeling”
  • ≥18 years of age ( cancer is very rare under the age of 40 years)
  • Unexplained laboratory test findings (eg. anaemia, thrombocytopenia, hypercalcaemia)
  • Unexplained Weight Loss
  • Severe unexplained fatigue
  • Persistent nausea or appetite loss
  • New atypical pain (e.g. diffuse abdominal pain or bone pain).
  • The patient is well enough to go through the process
  • The patient understands the process and is able to attend the RDC, possibly for a whole day at a time at short notice.

Exclusion Criteria

  • Those patients already on a designated USC pathway
  • Those patients who are suitable for another USC pathway
  • Referral via secondary care including ED or GP outside pilot area.
  • Patient< 18 years of age.
  • Previous cancer diagnosis and symptoms likely due to recurrence ( if a known cancer is suspected –either primary or secondary/recurrence the patient should be referred directly to the site specific USC)
  • Seen in Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Service within last 3 months with no new symptoms
  • Patient too unwell to attend
  • Patient requires acute admission to hospital
  • Patient unable/unwilling to attend at short notice/for a whole day
  • A serious NON CANCER diagnosis is highly likely (chronic / functional abdominal pain)
  • CT CAP within last 3 months showing no suspicion of malignancy

Please note any referrals meeting the exclusion criteria above will be automatically rejected.

Urgent referrals

A number of symptoms indicate a specific cancer diagnosis (for example cough, abnormal vaginal bleeding, change in bowel habit, dysphagia and haematuria. Any patients meeting the urgent suspected cancer referral guidelines for any tumour sites should be referred using the appropriate 2WW urgent suspected cancer referral pathway and referral forms.