Cancer Check Referral in England Hits Record Number After Pandemic Decline

A woman looking through a microscope on May 19, 2008. David Davies/PA Media

Almost three million people were referred for cancer checks in the 12 months between March 2021 and February 2022, NHS England said on Monday.

The National Health Service said the number is the highest on record and up by more than a tenth of the number before the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus pandemic.

According to the latest provisional data from NHS cancer service providers, some 2,657,316 people were tested for cancer during the 12-month-period, 30 percent up from the number (2,032,140) during the first year of the pandemic (March 2020 to February 2021).

An average of around 11,000 people were getting checked every day over the last year, NHS England said in a statement.

It said the number of people starting to receive cancer treatment has also increased by 2,000, from 313,000 before the pandemic to 315,000.

Half a million people have started cancer treatment since March 2020, NHS England said.

Dame Cally Palmer, national cancer director for NHS England, said there were still 30,000 people who have not yet started treatment due to the pandemic, but that the latest figures suggested progress.

“We are going further and faster than ever before in our ambitions to diagnose more cancers at an earlier stage so that we can save more lives,” she said.

“We have seen record numbers of people coming forward for checks in the last year, but we know there are still at least 30,000 who haven’t started treatment due to the pandemic, so it’s vital that we keep these referral rates high.”

In order to meet the increasing demand for cancer checks, the NHS said it has expanded its services’ diagnostic capabilities across the country in a range of ways.

Facilities such as one-stop shops for tests, mobile clinics, and cancer symptom hotlines are helping to ensure people are diagnosed and treated as early as possible, the health service said.

It comes after MPs warned that pandemic-related disruption means more people will not have cancer diagnosed until it has reached a later stage when it is harder to treat.

In a report earlier this month, the Health and Social Care Committee said 3 million fewer people in the UK were invited for cancer screenings between March and September 2020.

And between March 2020 and March 2021, 326,000 fewer people in England received an urgent referral for suspected cancer.

The Omicron wave also saw more cancellations of vital cancer treatments, “indicating the NHS is still not able to access sufficient COVID-free treatment capacity to safeguard treatments and address the backlog,” the MPs said.

On April 28, around three in five patients in England’s hospitals with COVID-19—the disease caused by the CCP virus—were not primarily treated for the disease, but all hospital patients who have tested positive for the CCP virus need to be treated separately from those who do not have the virus, regardless of whether they are in hospital primarily for COVID-19 or not.

Charities have welcomed this year’s increase in referrals but warned of the “devastating” impact of the pandemic on cancer care, and urged the government to tackle the “chronic” problem of NHS understaffing in its 10-year cancer plan.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid said: “The pandemic put unprecedented pressure on the NHS and it is positive to see more people coming forward for treatment and record numbers of people receiving life-saving cancer checks.

“Our upcoming 10-year cancer plan that will lead Europe in cancer care, along with our record investment to cut waiting times and the introduction of the health and social care levy, will help us continue our mission to tackle the COVID backlogs.”