Fear reluctant patients may die as they avoid ‘eerily quiet’ NHS

SCOTLAND’S top doctor has urged people not to ignore health problems during the coronavirus epidemic amid concerns reluctant patients are behind a mystery surge in deaths unrelated to Covid-19.

Interim Chief Medical Officer Dr Gregor Smith said there was a “disconcerting” lack of people presenting with other conditions, leaving the NHS “eerily quiet”.

He warned there were “huge risks” if people ignored symptoms such as chest pains and bleeding for which they would ordinarily have sought help.

Nicola Sturgeon confirmed there was a “concern” that people might be using the NHS less because they didn’t want to be a burden and getting sicker as a result.

However there was not yet enough evidence to be sure.

The First Minister said: “They will think they are helping the NHS, and obviously that sentiment is one we appreciate.

“But we don’t want people to not come forward if they’re worried about their health.”

Dr Smith and the First Minister were speaking after new figures showed the number of deaths recorded in Scotland was 643 higher than average last week.

Data compiled by National Records of Scotland showed there were 1,741 death registrations of all kinds between March 30 and April 5, compared to an average of 1,098.

Coronavirus was implicated in 282 of the above-average deaths.

Some of the others were due to an administrative backlog.

However, a large number are as yet unexplained, but could be “indirect deaths” related to NHS avoidance during coronavirus.

The latest Scottish Covid-19 fatality count was 366 after 70 more people died overnight.

In advance of the outbreak,

health experts feared some people would die from other causes because the NHS was overwhelmed.

However there are now concerns that people may be dying unnecessarily because they are failing to seek treatment for other conditions, either because they fear hospitals are unsafe because of Covid-19, or they don’t want to be a burden on the NHS.

Attendances at A&E departments in Scotland are down 60 per cent since the start of March.

At the daily Scottish Government briefing on coronavirus, Dr Smith said: “When I have conversations with clinicians across the country, the one thing that keeps on coming back to me is that the system feels eerily quiet in relation to people presenting with illness which isn’t Covid-19.

“That, as a clinician, is immediately disconcerting because that illness hasn’t gone away somewhere. It exists. People are perhaps making a choice not to present just now.

“I think we’ve got to be very clear that there are huge risks for people to hold on to symptoms like that. These are things you should be seeking help for. We, as clinicians, need to see you.

“We don’t need you sitting at home worrying about the odd pains that you’ve only started experiencing across your chest that you’ve never had before, or the sense of weakness in your hand, or even the bleeding that wasn’t there last week but has suddenly started.

“These are things that we want you still to come and see us about.”

Asked if people were dying because they were avoiding the health service because of Covid19, Ms Sturgeon said: “I don’t think it would be correct right now to say that we have enough evidence to say that people are dying for those reasons.

“But... we have a concern that people understandably... because they know the health service is under pressure... there may be a tendency for people to be less likely to come forward to the NHS.

“So that message is clear: if you are unwell, come to the NHS as you usually would.”

She said other states were also seeing a rise in non-covid-19 deaths, and the Government was investigating it.

However a definitive explanation could be several weeks away.