Some patients wait far longer than others for referrals to hospital, an independent inquiry into the quality of GP practices in England has found.

The report for the King’s Fund think tank found this was due to variations in the performance of doctors.

It also called for doctors to be more open to comparing performance with their peers, but added the majority of services were good.

Doctors’ leaders said GPs were always willing to look at ways of improving.

The two-year review was led by a panel of experts including Sir Ian Kennedy, the former head of the Healthcare Commission, and Professor Steve Field, the ex-leader of the Royal College of GPs.

It looked at existing research, as well as carrying out its own work with patients and NHS staff and concluded that, while in most cases care was good, there was too much variation in standards.

The report highlighted an eight-fold variation in which practices urgently referred patients to cancer specialists - in one local area, south London, there was a 35-fold difference.

Read more at BBC Health.