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Cancer patients face ‘perfect storm’ as Covid piles pressure on NHS


Progress in clearing the NHS cancer treatment backlog in England has gone into reverse amid high Covid cases and staff shortages, analysis suggests.

The NHS has been striving to catch up with the pandemic backlog of cancer care but the analysis by Macmillan Cancer Support of official data suggests the drive has recently suffered a setback, with growing numbers of potential cancer diagnoses missed.

Four key cancer measures have fallen back, with two dropping to their worst ever recorded level.

Figures published by NHS England, and analysed by Macmillan for the Guardian, show the number of patients starting treatment in August following a decision to treat fell to 25,800. The figure was above 27,000 in June and July. The proportion of patients who began treatment within one month of the decision to treat fell to 93.7% – the lowest percentage ever recorded.

Data published last week also shows that in August there was a record-high number of patients forced to wait for more than two months after an urgent referral from their GP before they started cancer treatment.

Macmillan said it was concerned that rising Covid hospitalisations were making it “even harder for the system to cope”. Efforts to tackle the backlog are also being hit by a shortage of cancer nurses, the charity said.

Steven McIntosh, the executive director of advocacy at Macmillan, said: “We know that many patients are entering an overstretched system that was on its knees even before the pandemic. This risks a perfect storm, as the system experiences a considerable influx of patients alongside an overwhelmed workforce struggling to provide the care and support that people urgently need.”

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Source: The Guardian, 22 October 2021

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