Summary
Research by the British Medical Association (BMA) concludes that over a million planned operations and treatments as well as over twenty thousand cancer treatments have been cancelled or delayed between April and the end of June this year because of the pandemic.
The Association’s research also estimates that more than two and a half million first time outpatient appointments were cancelled during the same time period.
This paper coincides with the BMA’s latest survey of 5,905 doctors in England and Wales, asking about the impact of the pandemic on their patients and their working lives. As part of the survey, they were asked if, within the last week, they had treated patients with conditions at a later stage (e.g. cancer, heart disease) than they would normally expect. A little over 40% said that they had.
Behind this data are the scores of patients whose routine surgery or procedure has been put aside in the rush to reconfigure the NHS to cope with COVID-19. Even worse, doctors know there are those whose illnesses are far more serious than they were, some now beyond cure.
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