Sat May 14, 2022 – 8:58 am EDT
(LifeSiteNews) – The accumulated backlog of British cancer patients waiting to receive first treatments since lockdown began in 2020 could take over five years to clear, a leading cancer charity has warned.
MacMillan Cancer Support, one of Britain’s largest specialist cancer-care charities, has estimated that in the two years since lockdown measures were implemented – during which time hospitals focused almost entirely on receiving COVID-positive patients while local doctors conducted appointments over the phone or via video call – around 32,000 more people than would normally be expected have not started initial cancer treatment.
Analyses by MacMillan over the 2020-2022 period showed that, at the current rate of first treatments for cancer in England’s National Health Service (NHS), clearing the backlog could take until late 2027.
In order to bring the backlog under control within one to two years, MacMillan suggests that the rate of first treatments for cancer patients must increase by around 5–10 percent above pre-lockdown levels.
This has not yet been achieved, MacMillan’s analysis showed.
Cancer diagnoses were also down, the charity discovered, dropping every month between May and November last year. The charity suggested
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