'Biggest cancer catastrophe ever' to hit NHS as up to 740000 potential cases missed - Telegraph.co.uk

‘Devastating’ situation for patients, as waiting lists set to rise further and medics fear that ‘more people will die who don’t need to’.

Charities said the report by the National Audit Office (NAO) reflected a “devastating” situation for many patients, with medics warning of “the biggest cancer catastrophe ever to hit the NHS”. .

MPs said the situation was likely to get worse before it gets better, with millions of patients who should have been referred for care during the pandemic now missing from waiting lists.

The NHS is preparing to launch its Elective Recovery Plan in an effort to tackle the backlog waiting for hospital care, as well as prioritise the most urgent cases. .

The plans could see patients able to book their own hospital appointments, check waiting times and travel further for care, if it means getting it sooner. 

Four in five people now on waiting lists are waiting for hospital appointments, rather than surgery

Cancer patients don’t have the luxury of time, if we don’t act more people will die who don’t need to.”

Dr Gary Howsam, vice-chairman of the Royal College of GPs, said: “GPs take our responsibility to refer appropriately very seriously and we worked hard throughout the pandemic to continue to refer patients with possible symptoms of cancer in as timely a way as possible. 

An NHS spokesperson said: “Treating more than half a million patients in hospital for covid, as well as delivering a world-leading vaccination programme, has inevitably had an impact on some routine and non-urgent care, yet since the pandemic begun the NHS has performed millions of elective procedures and over 450,000 people have started treatment for cancer.”