Nation’s health on critical list
THOUSANDS of Scots patients are suffering the effects of pandemic curbs after one year of lockdown.
The impact on non-Covid care has seen waiting lists for hospital treatment soar and a drop in referrals with thousands of cancer patients not getting the help they need. Meanwhile mental health has deteriorated.
A year on from the start of the first UK lockdown, the extent of the pandemic’s impact on non-Covid patients is revealed.
On March 17 last year, with cases rising, the NHS in Scotland went into emergency measures. Hospitals cancelled ‘non-urgent’ operations to focus on coronavirus, while GPs switched to phone and video consultations and routine dental checks were suspended.
Later that month, routine bowel, cervical and cancer screening was also suspended. In addition, many patients avoided seeking medical help because they did not want to put pressure on the NHS, or wrongly believed doctors were not seeing patients.
In response, the ‘NHS is Open’ campaign was launched on April 24 to encourage members of the public not to delay
‘Enduring long waits with no end in sight’
seeking medical advice for urgent problems. But many patients still stayed away. A year on, the NHS waiting list has soared to a record high.
A total of 86,289 people were waiting for NHS treatment as of December 31, 2020, compared with 80,093 at the same time a year earlier.
Scotland’s waiting times targets of 12 weeks have been abandoned, with patients now being prioritised on the grounds of the urgency of their appointment. Those with the least urgent conditions can expect to wait at least 12 weeks, with no maximum waiting time. The backlog could take years to clear.
Patients needing ‘non-urgent’ hip and knee replacements face some of the longest waits.
Tracey Loftis of the UK charity Versus Arthritis said: ‘Thousands of people are enduring long waits with no end date in sight. We have heard from people who have lost jobs, are unable to care for relatives and are seeking help for depression because of the debilitating pain they are in.’
And 7,000 fewer patients in Scotland had a confirmed cancer diagnosis by the end of November 2020 than would have been expected.
By the week ending November 29, 2020, the number of Scots with a pathologically confirmed cancer was 40,343 in 2019 and 33,341 in 2020, an absolute difference of 7,002 individuals and an overall drop of 17 per cent. That has alarmed charities who say thousands of Scots are living with undiagnosed cancers.
Macmillan Cancer Support’s head of policy in Scotland, Kate Seymour, said: ‘It’s vital the Government continues to be clear that anyone with potential cancer symptoms should contact their GP urgently.
‘Ahead of the election in May, we want to see every party and political candidate commit that they’ll do everything possible to get the cancer care system back on track.’
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘Cancer services have always been a key priority and patients referred with an urgent suspicion of cancer continue to be prioritised. NHS Scotland remains on an emergency footing where health boards are treating patients based on their clinical urgency.’