Record number of patients in England referred for cancer checks

NHS England has reported that a record 2.7 million people have been referred for cancer checks in the last twelve months.

 

Charities have welcomed the increase in referrals, but warned of the “devastating” impact the pandemic has had on cancer care.

 

Suspected cancer referrals remain at around 16 per cent higher than pre-pandemic levels and increased overall from 2.4 million to 2.65 million in the last year.

 

Dame Cally Palmer, NHS England’s national cancer director, said there were still 30,000 people who had not commenced treatment due to the pandemic, but that the new figures showed that some progress had been made.

 

She said “We are going further and faster than ever before in our ambitions to diagnose more cancers at an earlier stage so that we can save more lives” adding that it is “vital that we keep these referral rates high.”

 

Professor Peter Johnson, NHS England’s national clinical director for cancer, said primary care referrals were at record levels and around 11,000 people a day were being tested, “but nobody would say for a moment we are where we would like to be”.

 

Before the pandemic, the NHS had a shortage of diagnostic capacity and while there was a £2.3bn investment going into equipment such as CT and MRI scanners, it would take time to train up oncologists and radiologists.

 

Minesh Patel, Macmillan Cancer Support’s head of policy, said “To avoid putting further pressure on hardworking doctors and nurses, it’s vital the government includes steps in the upcoming 10-year cancer plan to grow the number of cancer professionals so that people living with cancer receive the quality and timely care they desperately need.”

 

 

 

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Posted by Karen Motley, Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (tonymay@chadlaw.co.uk ), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

 

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