Four week delay to cancer treatment increases death risk

New research has suggested that delaying cancer treatment by just four weeks increases the risk of death by up to 10 per cent.

Highlighting the devastating impact of missed NHS treatment targets due to coronavirus, the research followed estimations from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine earlier this year that diagnostic delays caused by lockdown measures and changes to patient behaviour as a result of the pandemic would result in 3,500 avoidable deaths from breast, lung, oesophageal or bowel cancer in England over the next five years.

The study assessed the impact of treatment delays on patients with bladder, breast, colon, rectum, lung, cervix, and head and neck cancers over the past 20 years. Pooling the results of 34 such studies involving more than 1.2 million patients found that delaying surgery, radiotherapy or drug treatment by just four weeks could have a devastating impact. The study, published in the British Medical Journal, suggests that the risk of death increases the longer that treatment is delayed.

According to NHS England data, an unprecedented number of cancer patients missed out on vital treatments, diagnostic tests and outpatient appointments as the pandemic unfolded, whilst waiting times for all the key stages of cancer care soared as many NHS services were suspended during the first lockdown.

Only 79,573 people in England were referred to a consultant by their GPs for suspected cancer in April this year, compared with almost 200,000 for the same month last year.

A recent analysis by Cancer Research UK (CRUK) estimated that about 12,750 fewer cancer patients had had surgery, 6,000 fewer had received chemotherapy and 2,800 fewer had had radiotherapy due to the postponement of routine NHS care during the pandemic.

Dr Jodie Moffat, CRUK’s head of early diagnosis, said: “Worryingly, the latest England cancer waiting time data for August shows that targets for patients beginning treatment within 62 days of an urgent cancer referral are still being missed. As health services are now having to manage a resurgence of Covid-19 on top of usual winter pressures, investment is urgently needed to make sure the NHS has the staff and equipment it needs to provide patients with life-saving diagnosis and treatment.”