Delayed Early Cancer Diagnosis

The Health and Social Care Committee has stated that there has been a delay in the early diagnosis of cancer cases as a result of the pandemic.

Usually, just over 50% of cancer cases are diagnosed during the early stages by screening, which increases the chances of survival.

The government’s aim back in 2016 was to diagnose at least 75% of cancers in early stages by 2028, but there has been no progress toward this figure in the last six years.

The UK fall well behind countries such as Canada and Australia in terms of survival rates from cancers. The Committee warned that over 340,000 patients are likely to be affected by the failure to detect cancer early, severely limiting their chances of survival.

The Department of Health is in the process of developing a “new” 10-year cancer plan, as they recognise the need to improve upon the recent figures. There has apparently been a network of 160 new diagnostic centres opened with more changes in the pipeline. The pandemic has also played a part in delay in diagnosis with an estimated 45,000 missed cases over the last two years, although there is no data available covering the last two years to compare this.

Minesh Patel, of Macmillan Cancer Support, said the report sounded a “loud and clear alarm”, describing the current system as at “breaking point”. “This is causing huge anxiety for people living with cancer, who aren’t getting the tailored and quality care they need, and face long waits for their treatment, potentially worsening their prognosis.”

Amanda Cavanagh, an Associate in Ashtons Legal’s Medical Negligence team, comments: “More needs to be done, coming up with new “plans” does not cut it. The Pandemic has obviously had an impact, but we must be clear, we were already lagging behind other countries in terms of early detection and treatment, and our cancer survival rates fell well below those in comparable countries for years. We need more research, staffing, investment and more resources to enable early detection and better chances of survival.”

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