2,000 cancer diagnoses may not have been made due to Covid-19 impact on services

The HSE has estimated that up to 2,000 cancer diagnoses have not been made this year due to the impact of Covid-19 on its cancer services and patient presentations.

Professor Risteárd Ó Laoide, national director of the National Cancer Control Program (NCCP), shared data from breast, lung and prostate clinics today that show significant drops in activity in March and April.

Despite the decline, referrals to breast clinics have significantly exceeded 2019 figures and referrals to rapid access lung and prostate clinics are showing a similar recovery in recent months.

However, attendance at rapid access prostate clinics remains low compared to 2019 attendance, now 76% down to 40% in the early stages of the pandemic.

He said figures show that HSE has diagnosed about 90% of breast, lung and prostate cancers compared to last year, that is, 371 cases of “missed cancers” that have not been diagnosed in these categories compared. with last year.

It is difficult to extrapolate to the largest number of cancer patients in Ireland, but it could potentially be as many as 2,000 cases of undetected cancer, likely to appear, we hope, later in the year.

There was also an impact on treatment, with surgical oncology dropping to 37%, now 71%.

The most important thing we have been trying to do is an efficient and effective triage of patients who are referred. This is very important because it is about looking for the most urgent case that needs to be attended quickly.

He said that the pre-Covid capacity of these clinics was already stretched and that operating in the pandemic environment has slowed service delivery.

“They were running at full speed before Covid and now they have two stones in their back and they continue to run at full speed to provide the service.”

He said that the number of clinics has increased and that some services are provided virtually. Professor Ó Laoide said the HSE is also using new imaging avenues, such as performing CT scans before patients arrive at a pulmonary clinic, so there is less influx of patients into hospitals.

He said there are “significant funding” for cancer services in the Winter Plan and the HSE National Service Plan, which will help address some of the system’s problems.

“The Achilles heel of the system is really community transmission because what will affect our ability to transmit cancer series the most is if there is an increase in community transmission and more infection among staff and palatines,” he said.

“That is what closes the wards, that is what closes the clinics and that is what really has the most significant impact on our ability to deal with patients.”