UK Faces ‘Ticking Time Bomb’ of Missed Cancer Cases, Study Claims - Breitbart

The disruption of the coronavirus pandemic has resulted in fewer urgent cancer referrals in England, meaning that cases could be caught too late and result in survival rates “going backwards”, according to a report.

A study of NHS England data by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) had found that GPs made 1.85 million urgent cancer referrals between March 2020, at around the time of the first lockdown, and January 2021.

During that timeframe, urgent referrals for suspected lung cancer, the most deadly form of cancer, fell by 34 per cent — around 20,300 patients.

Child cancer patient referrals also decreased by more than one-fifth (21 per cent or 2,000 children).

The IPPR’s Senior Research Fellow Chris Thomas said that the drop in cancer referrals since the start of the pandemic “risks creating a ticking time bomb for missed cancer cases and a decade of disruption for health services, unless urgent action is taken”.