THOUSANDS OF JOBS PUBLIC STAYED HOME NOW AT RISK AFTER OVER CHRISTMAS...
NHS faces ‘avalanche’ of cancer cases and spiralling death toll
CANCER services risk being overwhelmed by “an avalanche from which the country will never recover”, experts warn.
A dossier of complaints logged about the care of patients reveals how stretched cancer treatment has become during the pandemic.
And experts say the situation leaves treatment at “one minute to midnight”.
The cancer complaints casebook, drawn from Freedom of Information Act requests to NHS trusts in England, found in the first seven months of 2021 there were 392 complaints logged about the care of patients.
The true total is expected to be even higher as more than a third of trusts either failed to respond or said they were unable to provide data.
The report shows dozens of cancer patients have been denied life-saving treatment during the Covid crisis.
One family said their relative died in hospital and not only could they not visit but they had not been told they had cancer.
Other complaints included a patient worried about the recurrence of a lump being told the earliest appointment they could have was in 10 weeks.
Experts have said the number of people dying due to delays could end up approaching the number of deaths due to Covid.
A report by the National Audit Office found 740,000 potential cancer cases have been “missed” since the first lockdown because people have either been reluctant to go to their doctor or could not get an appointment.
Karol Sikora, a consultant oncologist and professor of medicine at Buckingham
Medical School, said: “It’s really difficult for GPS to identify cancer patients without getting some sort of imaging – CT or MRI scans.the waiting time for these has grown dramatically.
“In Europe, most patients start their treatment within two weeks of referral. Here many patients are left in limbo.”
Prof Pat Price, co-founder of the Catch Upwith Cancer campaign, said services are still being disrupted two years into the pandemic.
“We’re one minute to midnight in terms of this Covidinduced cancer crisis becoming an avalanche from which we can’t recover,” she said.
“Since the scare over Omicron, people are again cancelling vital checks, and cancer staff are being redeployed again.
“Patients feel they have been thrown under the bus.”
An NHS spokesperson said: “Cancer has been a priority throughout the pandemic and more than 460,000 people have started treatment since March 2020 with 95 per cent beginning their treatment within a month.”
HOSPITALITY and retail jobs could disappear in their thousands early this year as businesses struggle with soaring operating costs after a poor festive period.
Hospitality chiefs say more than 30,000 pubs, restaurants, nightclubs and wedding venues have less than a month’s worth of cash reserves, leaving them on the brink as they start 2022.
It is feared about 10,000 of these businesses could be lost by the spring, on top of the 10,000 that have shut in the sector since the start of the pandemic.
Retail experts have also warned of a tough start to the new year in which staff furloughed during the lockdowns could be permanently let go to balance rising energy bills and business rates returning to full levels from April.
Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UK Hospitality, said pub, restaurant and nightclub trade fell
‘Each time we
tell people to be cautious it makes it harder’
40 to 60 per cent in December, including cancelled bookings for New Year’s Eve parties. This represents a loss of between £3-4billion to the UK economy.
In the Christmas week, hospitality trade was down 30 to 40 per cent compared with 2019 levels and down on Christmas Day by 60 per cent.
With December trade usually providing pubs, restaurants and nightclubs with 25 per cent of their annual profits, Ms Nicholls fears 10 per cent of venues – around 10,000 – will not survive the leaner months of January, February and March, when people don’t go out as much.
She said: “Even in a good year, December is important but after the two years we’ve had with Covid it was going to be the time when we could start rebuilding and we’ve lost that.
“A third of hospitality businesses have less than a month’s cash reserves, so these businesses are more fragile and will be less viable as a result of losing that
Christmas trading period and the valuable month of December.
“These businesses are very vulnerable. We lost 10 per cent of hospitality businesses during the 22 months of Covid.
“I think we could see as many again fail, so that would be about 10,000 businesses.”
She has called for “sustained” Government support until the summer to allow businesses to survive. “In particular we need that
lower rate of VAT at 12.5 per cent maintained throughout the summer trading period to help businesses rebuild and also so they don’t
have to put prices up for consumers as a result of inflationary pressures.
“That would give the industry the breathing space it needs to recover and to generate growth and investment.”
Andrew Goodacre, chief executive of the British Independent Retailers Association, also said rising energy bills and staffing costs are proving a major issue for his members after high streets were hit by low footfall due to Omicron denting confidence.
He said: “We went into December with some real optimism and then the Omicron announcement and the various regulations that followed took away that potential, which was a pity and left many retailers feeling a little bereft.
“I think 2022 was always going
‘I’ve always wanted to own
a house. The daydreaming kept me going while shielding’
LOUISA TOMLINSON
to be a tough year because in the first four or five months it’s going to be more expensive to be in business as the cost of energy has tripled and the cost of labour for many people has increased by 60 or 70 per cent.
“Business rates will also double in real terms when we get to April,” he said.
“For the high street as a whole, and that includes hospitality as well as retail businesses, January and February are quiet months.
“Last year in lockdown we had the furlough scheme to keep people in jobs but this year if footfall is significantly lower then businesses will have to make difficult decisions because they know they have increased costs not far away, if not with them already.
“They may say, ‘Well I may have furloughed you in the past but this time I need to let you go permanently’. That will be a shame but people are going to have to make hard decisions.
“If we can get through January and the Omicron threat moves away as quickly as it
arrived then we need to think of ways of helping consumer confidence return
to get people back to the high street.” Mr Goodacre wants the Government to look at a Shop Out to Help Out scheme again, which would be similar to the Eat Out to Help Out scheme run in pubs and restaurants in August 2020.
Shop Out schemes were run in Northern Ireland and Hereford.
Mr Goodacre added: “The Government has rejected this in the past as being too complex, but maybe those two examples can be looked at to see if it’s something that can be done on a wider basis.
“Each time we tell people to be cautious it makes it harder to get people back to the high street, so we may just need some fiscal injection to get people out and about again, and looking forward to 2022.”