Urgent health action demanded as excess cancer deaths hit 950

There have been 950 excess cancer deaths at home during the Covid-19 pandemic, new figures show.

The weekly release from National Records of Scotland (NRS) tallies the number of suspected Covid-19 deaths and their location but also looks at how many excess deaths have occurred overall.

Excess deaths are those recorded over and above the five-year average for that week.

Scottish Labour has called for a plan to be put in place to help prevent a potential “tsunami of cancer deaths” after it was revealed almost 400,000 cancer screenings were cancelled due to coronavirus.

Since the 12th week of the year, around the time lockdown was imposed, 950 more people have died at home with cancer than the five-year average.

Between the 12th week of the year and the 29th, 2,639 people died at home with cancer, the highest of any setting, compared to the average of 1,689 over the past five years.

Smear tests to check for cervical cancer were restarted at the end of last month and the national screening programme for breast cancer will begin to restart from August 3.

Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard said: “The shocking rise in the number of people dying from cancer at home should be a wake-up call for the health secretary and the Scottish Government.

He added: “With nearly 400,000 cancer screenings cancelled, we could be facing a tsunami of cancer deaths if services are not urgently restored.

“The time has come to get our NHS cancer services up and running again and to redouble our screening programme to ensure early diagnoses.”