19,500 people not diagnosed with cancer due to Covid backlog
New report suggests it could take over a decade to clear the cancer treatment backlog
Last updated 24th May 2022
An estimated 19,500 people in England haven't been diagnosed with cancer that should have been, due to missed referrals during the Covid-19 pandemic.
A new study says it could take over a decade to clear the cancer treatment backlog in England.
The report by the Institute for Public Policy Research think-tank (IPPS) and the CF health consultancy calculated that it could take until 2033 to clear the cancer treatment "missing patients backlog".
Their new study calculated that even if “stretched” hospitals could achieve 5% more treatments and procedures than before the pandemic, it will still take until 2033 to clear the cancer treatment “missing patients backlog”.
If that figure could be pushed up to 15% then backlogs could be cleared by next year, the report suggests.
Pandemic causes cancer backlog
The pandemic has also caused a 37% drop in endoscopies, a 25% drop in MRI scans and a 10% drop in CT scans than expected, which are essential cancer diagnosis procedures.
Dr Parth Patel, IPPR research fellow and an NHS doctor, said: "The pandemic has severely disrupted cancer services in England, undoing years of progress in improving cancer survival rates.
"Now the health service faces an enormous backlog of care that threatens to disrupt services for well over a decade. We know every delay poses risks to patients' chances of survival.
"Clearing the cancer care backlog before the next general election looks unlikely with the way the NHS is currently resourced, staffed and organised.
"The funding announced this month is just about enough to keep the health service afloat, but does not provide the funds needed to bring down pandemic backlogs as quickly as possible or transform service quality.
The data showed that while the number of people who need cancer treatment hasn't changed there were fewer people referred to a specialist.
Also, fewer chemotherapy treatments and radiotherapy treatments took place.
The report said: "Behind these statistics are thousands of people for whom it will now be too late to cure their cancer.
"We estimate that the number of cancers diagnosed while they are still highly curable (stage one and two) fell from 44% before to pandemic to 41% last year."
Treating 90% of prospective cancer patients could mean the backlog in chemotherapy and radiotherapy could take until 2028 and 2033 respectively to clear.
Researchers argued that the Government shouldn't just allow pre-pandemic levels of care to return, adding that the UK has poor cancer outcomes compared to similar countries.
Compared to 38 countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the UK also scored the lowest numbers of CT and MRI scanners per head.
Chris Thomas, IPPR senior research fellow, said: "Returning cancer care to its pre-pandemic state is not sufficiently ambitious and will not deliver the rapid improvement in cancer outcomes we need.
"The Government must live up to their 'build back better' rhetoric and not just return us to the stagnating cancer survival rates seen pre-pandemic."