Would You Want To Wait For Much Needed Cancer Treatment?
We all know the NHS has been stretched to its limits over the last 18 months which has had a significant impact on NHS wait times and access to treatment.
Nobody wants to think about themselves or their nearest & dearest receiving bad news but in reality, this happens – would you want to put yourself and those closest to you in the position of having to wait for medical treatment?
A recent report states…
“It could take the NHS until the next decade to make up for chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment missed as a result of the pandemic, a report by a think tank has found.”
The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) has published a paper that found the pandemic has “severely disrupted” cancer services in England across the care pathway, with reductions in activity seen in screening, referrals, and diagnostic and treatment services.
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In response to the pandemic, the report said, the NHS had to take “previously unthinkable” steps like cancelling cancer treatments.
The think tank found that, if even stretched hospitals could maintain national services at 105% of pre-pandemic activity levels, it would take until 2028 and 2033 to make up for missed chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments.
The report said it would take “considerably longer” to recover missed diagnostic investigations.
The IPPR found that if activity levels across the cancer care pathway could be increased and maintained at 115% of 2019 levels, most backlogs could be addressed next year, preventing many cancer-related deaths in the process.
However, the report added: “Recovering cancer services will take a concerted and sustained effort. This is unlikely to be doable in the NHS as currently resourced and understaffed [sic].” Such an outcome would likely have consequences for workforce retention, service access and quality, and patient outcomes, the think tank added.
