Warning of deaths as a result of 27m lost GP appointments
‘It translates into millions of people not getting referrals for diagnoses like cancer and other conditions’
NEARLY 27 million GP appointments have been lost to the pandemic, amid warnings from the NHS watchdog that the crisis may lead to cancer deaths.
The Care Quality Commission said access to family doctors remained worse than it was before lockdown, raising concerns that those with worrying health problems were struggling to see a doctor.
Cancer Research UK said that since March, more than 350,000 people who would normally have been urgently referred to hospital had not been. It follows studies suggesting that delays in diagnoses this year could mean an extra 35,000 deaths.
Figures show that between March and August, there were 26.7 million fewer consultations than last year. Ian Trenholm, the CQC chief executive, said: “As as the country locked down, the number of GP appointments fell significantly. And there was a very, very definite move towards non face-to-face appointments. If looked at across the whole of the year, the number of lost GP appointments translates into millions of people potentially not getting those referrals on, for diagnoses like cancer and other conditions.”
Officials raised concerns that some parts of the NHS were sending out “inadvertent signals” deterring patients from getting care, with signs on doors and messages about service restrictions, while some patients were struggling with phone and online systems.
Statistics from NHS Digital show that even in August, GPS had 2.7 million fewer appointments than in the same month in 2019. The figures include phone and video consultations, which made up almost half of appointments.
In total, 119.5 million appointments were carried out in the six-month period, compared with 146 million in the same period in 2019.
Dr Rosie Benney worth, chief inspector of primary care, said: “We know there has been a reduction in cancer referrals. That is likely to have an impact longer term on people getting appropriate diagnosis and treatment. It’s really important that actually all the needs of the people who use services are met and not just the people with Covid.”
Sarah Woolnough, Cancer Research UK’S executive director of policy and information, said the findings were warning of “devastating” consequences if diagnosis of the disease was delayed.
She said: “Many people have told us they’ve been unable to get an appointment. Although it might be frustrating, we’d encourage them to keep trying.”
Mr Trenholm said health services must ensure “no one is left behind,” adding: “There needs to be an active effort to go back, and look for those people that maybe have a lump or a bump and haven’t gone to see their GP.”
Prof Martin Marshall, chairman of the Royal College of GPS, said: “GPS and their teams worked incredibly hard from the start of the pandemic to keep patients as safe as possible.”
Not one of the many clinicians that John Smart has spoken to since he first coughed up blood in April has blamed the delays to his treatment on Covid-19.
But the retired engineer is under no illusion about why he is still waiting for lung cancer surgery six months on, after postponements at every turn.
In fact, it has been so long since his diagnosis that he is terrified his cancer might have spread. “We all know that the earlier these things are dealt with the better. Unbelievably, cancer patients’ lives have been deemed second-rate. It’s been incredibly stressful for both me and my family.”
Mr Smart, an otherwise fit and healthy grandfather of four, was completely taken by surprise when he coughed up blood at the end of April. He managed to speak to a GP who said he would refer him for a chest X-ray.
“He said I’d get a letter from the hospital and that I just had to wait,” he said. “Pre-covid, I could have taken a note to the outpatient department on the day and waited to be seen, but post-covid, this was not the case.”
Mr Smart, from Coventry, waited. Then, after two weeks, he called the surgery for an update. He said: “The receptionist checked the record and said I would just have to be patient.”
Five weeks later, he finally had the scan at the Hospital of St Cross, Rugby. “The strange thing was,” he said, “that the hospital was completely empty.”
Mr Smart got a call from the GP the next day who said the radiographer had diagnosed a consolidated lung infection and that he would prescribe antibiotics.
He duly took the course and was told that a follow-up X-ray would be arranged for a week’s time. In the event, that too was five weeks later.
Then Mr Smart was contacted by a GP who “rather bluntly” told him it looked like cancer. With this confirmed by a PET scan, he was advised to have surgery on the tumour. The consultant said it would be in three to four weeks, but the date never came. He found the GP’S secretary’s number and “pestered” her. “Eventually, I got an appointment that was seven weeks later,” he said.
Last week, on the day he was finally booked to go in, he got a call to say the operation had been postponed for three weeks. “I was so angry,” he said. After piling on the pressure, it is now scheduled for next week. Mr Smart can only pray that his condition has not worsened in the meantime.