Millions missed out on getting cancer scans

AT LEAST four million fewer cancer scans were performed during the height of the pandemic, new research has shown, as people missed out on potentially life-saving intervention.

Analysis of 103 NHS hospital trusts across England found that one in seven people are now waiting more than three months for a scan.

According to the BBC, 4.4 million fewer scans were performed between April and September this year compared to the same period in 2019. The study, carried out by the BBC Shared Data Unit, also examined waiting times for diagnostics across the home nations.

While scans including MRI, CT and ultrasound, fell by a third overall in England during the six-month period, the North West and London experienced the largest reductions.

NHS trusts in the capital carried out 39 per cent less scans than the previous year. Additionally a third of patients in the North West were waiting more than six weeks for a scan in October.

Cancer Research UK has warned the backlog built during lockdown could lead to a swathe of people now attending hospital in a far worse condition. Jody Moffatt, head of early diagnosis for Cancer Research UK, cautioned: “Those patients could be diagnosed with a more aggressive, later-stage cancer.”

The Royal College of Radiologists and the British Institute for Radiology have said the fall in the number of scans was because trusts were told to cancel non-essential appointments at the end of March.