Dr. Suzanne O'Sullivan

Very often, time is a better answer to medical problems than bunches of scans and loads of blood tests. You can be over-diagnosed very, very easily if a doctor sends you for a scan every time you go and see them.

Very often, time is a better answer to medical problems than bunches of scans and loads of blood tests. You can be over-diagnosed very, very easily if a doctor sends you for a scan every time you go and see them.

Very often, time is a better answer to medical problems than bunches of scans and loads of blood tests. You can be over-diagnosed very, very easily if a doctor sends you for a scan every time you go and see them.

Yeah, so I think that there's some fairly sort of there's some received wisdom, which is that earlier diagnosis are always for the better. If you catch a diagnosis early, you'll promote long term health. You know that the more health conditions you recognise, the more treatment you give, the more you promote long term health of the population.

Yeah, so I think that there's some fairly sort of there's some received wisdom, which is that earlier diagnosis are always for the better. If you catch a diagnosis early, you'll promote long term health. You know that the more health conditions you recognise, the more treatment you give, the more you promote long term health of the population.

Yeah, so I think that there's some fairly sort of there's some received wisdom, which is that earlier diagnosis are always for the better. If you catch a diagnosis early, you'll promote long term health. You know that the more health conditions you recognise, the more treatment you give, the more you promote long term health of the population.

And those assumptions, you know, they make a huge amount of sense. One can understand why we think that way. However, when we look at the statistics of diagnosis, we see something that suggests those assumptions may actually be quite problematic. So for several decades now, we've really been focused on diagnosing lots of things at earlier stages.

And those assumptions, you know, they make a huge amount of sense. One can understand why we think that way. However, when we look at the statistics of diagnosis, we see something that suggests those assumptions may actually be quite problematic. So for several decades now, we've really been focused on diagnosing lots of things at earlier stages.

And those assumptions, you know, they make a huge amount of sense. One can understand why we think that way. However, when we look at the statistics of diagnosis, we see something that suggests those assumptions may actually be quite problematic. So for several decades now, we've really been focused on diagnosing lots of things at earlier stages.

So, for example, we have screening programmes for cancer. that detect very early cancers. We have screening programs for learning problems that are detecting milder forms of problems like autism and ADHD. Now, if the assumption that early diagnosis and recognizing mild conditions was to our benefit was correct, We should be seeing the downstream effects of all that improved diagnosis.

So, for example, we have screening programmes for cancer. that detect very early cancers. We have screening programs for learning problems that are detecting milder forms of problems like autism and ADHD. Now, if the assumption that early diagnosis and recognizing mild conditions was to our benefit was correct, We should be seeing the downstream effects of all that improved diagnosis.

So, for example, we have screening programmes for cancer. that detect very early cancers. We have screening programs for learning problems that are detecting milder forms of problems like autism and ADHD. Now, if the assumption that early diagnosis and recognizing mild conditions was to our benefit was correct, We should be seeing the downstream effects of all that improved diagnosis.

We should be seeing fewer late stage cancers, fewer deaths from cancer. We should see children with better mental health going into adulthood, better able to progress through life. But we are actually seeing the opposite of all of those things. We are diagnosing lots of conditions earlier. So we've got lots of people becoming patients earlier than they would have before.

We should be seeing fewer late stage cancers, fewer deaths from cancer. We should see children with better mental health going into adulthood, better able to progress through life. But we are actually seeing the opposite of all of those things. We are diagnosing lots of conditions earlier. So we've got lots of people becoming patients earlier than they would have before.

We should be seeing fewer late stage cancers, fewer deaths from cancer. We should see children with better mental health going into adulthood, better able to progress through life. But we are actually seeing the opposite of all of those things. We are diagnosing lots of conditions earlier. So we've got lots of people becoming patients earlier than they would have before.

And we have just as many people with late stage problems.

And we have just as many people with late stage problems.

And we have just as many people with late stage problems.

If you look at people who have been diagnosed with early cancers on screening, you will see fewer deaths from cancers in those groups. But if you look at the overall mortality from cancer, we have a gradually increasing amount of cancer diagnosis with late stage cancer also.

If you look at people who have been diagnosed with early cancers on screening, you will see fewer deaths from cancers in those groups. But if you look at the overall mortality from cancer, we have a gradually increasing amount of cancer diagnosis with late stage cancer also.