Open E. C. G. service.
K P Dawson · BMJ · 1970
wait eight weeks from the time of being diagnosed by bronchoscopy a,s having a lung cancer before being admitted to hospital for thoracotomy.If it had not been for my making a pest of myself by repeated letters and a telephone call, he would probably have waited 10 weeks.In fact, he jumped the queue for admission.Eight to ten weeks is long enough for an operable carcinoma to become inoperable.It is highly unethical for a National Health Service to be organized in such a way that there is a waiting list for cancer of two months' duration.In Manchester the waiting time for admission for treatment for lung cancer is two months; for iatrogenic abortion several days.Whether this is a local or national phenomenon I do not know, but it seems to be a highly unethical state of affairs.-I am, etc., R. N. EBBING.