BREAST SCANS BACK, BUT WORRIES REMAIN
ALMOST a million women have missed out on routine breast cancer screening since the pandemic began — as a result, around 8,600 women may have undiagnosed cancer, according to new figures.
It’s not just routine screenings — charity Breast Cancer Now estimates there have been 107,000 fewer urgent breast cancer referrals across the UK between March and July compared with the same period in 2019.
The number of breast cancer operations was just 76 per cent of the figure last year, while 12 per cent of patients experienced problems accessing drug treatments; 12 per cent of women said their radiotherapy had been delayed and half of 92 NHS clinical trials were paused.
While screening has restarted and tests, treatments and trials have resumed, a charity spokeswoman says there is a backlog of cases, ‘and services in some places are not operating at full capacity yet — with screening, for instance, fewer appointments are available because of the need for cleaning between appointments and social distancing in waiting rooms’.
Melanie Sturtevant, the charity’s policy manager, adds: ‘The system was stretched even before Covid. Referrals to hospitals for investigations are increasing but are not at prepandemic levels.’ Baroness Delyth Morgan, chief executive of Breast Cancer Now, says: ‘ We must make sure we are prepared for a second wave. We cannot afford for the programme to be paused again.’
The charity Target Ovarian Cancer describes a similarly worrying picture for this disease. Even pre-pandemic there were problems in England, with women who’d had suspicious results from a CA125 blood test often facing delays for an ultrasound, with an average of 31 days between the two tests. (In Scotland the tests are done at the same time.)
‘There are concerns that waits for an ultrasound are now even longer,’ says Rachel Downing, the charity’s head of policy and campaigns.
Treatment was also affected, according to a survey in July. ‘Women told us of their surgery being delayed because ITU beds were being used for Covid patients, and they had their chemotherapy stopped or shortened from six cycles to four,’ says Ms Downing.