A RISE of almost 50 per cent in the number of fast-track referrals for urological cancers compared to last year has been described as “extremely challenging” by the Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals (RBCH) trust.

The trust has warned that the increase was putting “extreme pressure” on its capacity and that further demand is expected following the launch of Public Health England’s ‘Blood in pee’ campaign earlier this month.

Initial rises in referrals have been put down to the “Stephen Fry effect” following the publicity surrounding the comedian’s prostate cancer diagnosis.

Urology referrals are made by GPs following the discovery of symptoms potentially indicating the presence of kidney, bladder, testicular and prostate cancers.

The trust’s chief operating officer, Richard Renaut said that while NHS organisations across the country had been seeing an increase, RBCH had seen one of the largest rises.

“There has been a big rise in fast-track urology cancer referrals,” he said. “This is partly due to the Stephen Fry effect and I think we need to plan on this being a new level of demand.

“Demand is expected to rise further with the start of the government’s ‘Blood in pee’ campaign.

“A request that the campaign be deferred due to the increased demand was made but it was refused as advertising had already been booked.”

The campaign launched last week with the aim of improving the number of urological cancers which are diagnosed at an earlier stage.

More than 19,000 in England are diagnosed with a form of the disease every year in England while more than 8,000 people die.

Research has found that the number of people surviving for five years after being diagnosed at the earliest stage is about 80 per cent compared to 10 per cent who are diagnosed late.

Urgent referrals are targeted to be seen within two weeks but with a 13 per cent increase across all forms of cancer compared to last year, the trust has admitted an “extreme challenge” in meeting the goal.

The trust had predicted the number of fast-track requests to increase by eight per cent.

The issue was raised at Wednesday’s meeting of the trust’s board of directors where health chiefs said they expected levels to decrease slightly but that the number of referrals was likely to remain above previous levels.

A report to the board warned that “pressure from fast-track demand” risked longer waits for other patients within the trust due to the higher priority of cancer cases.

The rise in referrals has also resulted in a fall from more than 90 per cent of suspected cancer screenings being carried out within 62 days in May to about 80 per cent in June.

Locum support is being used to increase the trust’s capacity.