LONDON LOCKDOWN CANCER TIMEBOMB
THOUSANDS MISS URGENT CHECK-UPS 53% YEAR-ON-YEAR FALL IN REFERRALS
THOUSANDS of Londoners were today revealed to be missing urgent checks for cancer as the full impact of coronavirus emerged.
The number seeking a two-week hospital referral from their GP fell by almost 18,000 in May — 53 per cent lower than the same month last year, and worse than the rest of the country.
The number of Londoners starting life-saving or life-extending treatment for cancer also fell by about 1,000 — 35 per cent lower than last year. Health campaigners said the figures were “extremely worrying” and raised concerns that cancer had become “the forgotten C” in the pandemic and lockdown.
The Evening Standard, in conjunction with the Macmillan Cancer Support and Breast Cancer Now charities, analysed the number of cases being referred to the capital’s NHS hospitals and to some independent providers in May, in comparison with May 2019. We found for NHS trusts:
⬤ A 47 per cent fall in breast cancer referrals, from 6,519 to 3,472.
⬤ A 63 per cent fall in urological cancers such as
prostate cancer, from 2,882 to 1,066.
⬤ A 68 per cent fall in referrals for lower gastro-intestinal cancers, such as bowel cancer, from 6,221 to 1,949.
⬤ A 50 per cent fall in skin cancer, from 6,453 to 3,220.
⬤ A 41 per cent fall in gynaecological cancers, such as ovarian cancer, from 2,962 to 1,736 referrals.
Sara Bainbridge, head of policy at Macmillan Cancer Support, said: “These figures are a sobering demonstration of the serious impact coronavirus has had on cancer care in London. For three months now, we have called for an urgent recovery plan for NHS cancer services, to ensure that cancer does not become the forgotten ‘C’ in this pandemic.
“It is absolutely critical that the Government commits to addressing the backlog in cancer treatment, including the staffing and resources needed, to deliver the care that many are anxiously waiting for.”
Baroness Morgan, chief executive of Breast Cancer Now, said: “It’s extremely worrying that the peak of the pandemic has led to such a steep drop in the number of women in London being referred to see a breast cancer specialist with potential symptoms. These latest figures remain much lower than we would normally expect to see and it’s clear there’s still a long way to go to ensure breast cancer services in London fully recover to pre-pandemic levels.
“While most breast changes won’t be cancer, the sooner breast cancer is diagnosed, the more likely treatment is to be successful. We are really concerned that the major drop in people being referred could have a devastating impact on the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer in the longer-term.”
The figures, drawn from data published yesterday by NHS England, show that while more people were referred to a specialist in May than in April, when coronavirus was at its peak, fewer were able to start treatment.
Across England, monthly referrals for all suspected cancers were down 47 per cent from 200,599 to 106,535. Many non-urgent operations and diagnostic tests were cancelled to enable hospital staff to be redeployed to the Covid-19 frontline. In addition, diagnostic tests were reduced due to many staff falling ill with the virus or having to shield. Hospitals fear it could take many months to tackle the backlog.
Macmillan said many patients had been afraid to report symptoms for “fear of being a burden on the NHS or catching coronavirus”. It said cancer services were likely to come under more pressure as thousands of “invisible patients” come forward to be diagnosed and begin their treatment.
One patient, Jacqueline Curzon, a musician and mother of seven from Edgware, said it was “devastating to be left in no man’s land” and forced to pause treatment for stage four pancreatic cancer due to the pandemic.
She said: “The hateful, venomous, pancreatic cancer cells had marched off during my ‘treatment holiday,’ and taken occupation up north [in the lungs]. This discovery coincided with the outbreak of coronavirus which meant that my treatment was further delayed. I therefore had a break of four months before chemo was restarted in May, which was a delay I felt I could ill afford.”
THE worrying figures disclosed today by this newspaper about the huge decline in the number of Londoners being referred to hospital by their GP for an urgent cancer check are another indication of the potentially catastrophic, but until now largely overlooked, consequences of the coronavirus lockdown.
Our research, produced in conjunction with the charities Macmillan Cancer Support and Breast Cancer Now, shows, for example, that there has been a 50 per cent drop in London patients being sent for examination for fastspreading melanoma and a 47 per cent drop in breast cancer checks, which equates to 3,000 fewer women having suspicious lumps examined.
All this is deeply troubling and indicates, to our immense regret, that lives that might have been saved will instead be lost, depriving children of parents and many others of loved ones unnecessarily.
The problems with cancer are just some of the hitherto hidden consequences of three months of lockdown that this newspaper has been highlighting this week. It is vital that we do so, because lessons must be learned for the future.
As our investigations have shown, victims of domestic abuse and their children have been placed at huge risk because vulnerable families were deprived of visits they would previously have received from social workers. In most boroughs, families are still not receiving any home visits, one-on-one, but are only being checked in on by telephone or via Zoom.
At the same time, the Children’s Commissioner for England, Anne Longfield, has warned of a “lost generation” of children and, via this newspaper, issued a warning about the lasting educational, emotional and psychological harm inflicted on pupils kept from school and the company of friends and teachers for an unimaginably long time.
Meanwhile, the National Obesity Forum says today that many children are likely to have put on weight during the lockdown — which again raises the prospect of further lasting damage to their futures.
What all this shows is that the Government’s trumpeting of pubs and bars reopening and quarantine ending — which are all very welcome and needed to help get our economy moving again — must not obscure the urgent need for action to help those who have suffered.
That’s particularly the case because significant numbers of those worst affected will be from groups, including black and other minority communities, who already suffer from disadvantage and who are likely to find it hardest to overcome the impact of the pandemic on their lives.
There are other lessons too for ministers and for us all, particularly if further lockdowns are needed. The focus on reducing the immediate death toll from Covid-19, which was right and understandable, has led to a lack of attention on the less visible damage of lockdown, which we are now only beginning to come to terms with, including victims who might have escaped the disease itself but will now pay a heavy price, and even suffer premature death.
We need constant focus on these issues, and data must be collated so that if lockdown comes again, or another pandemic strikes in the future, we will be far better prepared.
Lives that might have been saved will instead be lost, depriving children of parents