RADICAL plans to name and shame GPs who fail to spot the signs of cancer will pile pressure on the Royal Berkshire Hospital, according to worried hospital bosses.

They fear that Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt’s plans to publish the names of GPs who do not refer patients for cancer tests will cause a surge in appointments.

Speaking in a national newspaper on Sunday, Mr Hunt vowed to out doctors who put patients’ lives at risk by failing to send them for vital hospital tests quickly enough.

But Professor Peter Malone, director of planned care at the Royal Berks, told the hospital’s board of directors on Monday: “When I showed this to my cancer pathway team they were almost in tears worrying what this will do to our referrals. The likelihood is they will refer more patients in. There is a major cause for concern as to what is going to happen.”

Clutching a copy of the article, which appeared in the Mail on Sunday, his words sparked a clamour around the board table with directors looking ashen and worried.

The hospital is already struggling to meet the GP referral target of testing 85% of patients within 62 days as well as the 90% 62-day screening referral target.

But Professor Malone insisted that many of the problems are caused by patients choosing to delay their treatment and stressed the number of two-week suspected cancer referrals had surged from about 400-500 per month in 2007 to 1,375 last month. That was the second highest number ever behind July last year when 1,377 patients were referred for screening.

He added that 35% of the 26 patients who were seen outside the 62-day cancer screening target in May had not turned up or cancelled appointments, while 13 of the 15 breaches of the two-week breast cancer screening were down to patient choices.

He said: “It is impossible to achieve the target with that many patient choices.”