jt conun j qual patient saf the global burden of diagnostic errors in primary care still conventional data sources such as medical record reviews and reported harmful events produce mounting evidence of the importance and frequency of diagnostic errors across several types of conditions studies of multiple consultations in the presentation of cancer provide a powerful predictor of speed of receiving a timely and correct diagnosis one in five patients presenting red flag symptoms and who recently were diagnosed with cancer had three or more consultations with primary care doctors being referred to relevant specialists although the majority of those patients had cancers that are considered particularly difficult to diagnose it does reflect an avoidable delay lyratzopoulos et al