A senior cancer specialist has warned that an increasing number of patients are likely to die as individuals with Covid-19 are “prioritised” over them as the country struggles to control the pandemic.
Professor Clare Turnbull, professor of cancer genetics at the Institute of Cancer Research, said there has been “collateral consequence” in other non-Covid illnesses.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, the London-based clinician said: “I think unfortunately there has been a lot of collateral consequence in other areas of healthcare on account of the Covid-19 crisis.
“And although delaying hip replacements or cataract surgery means people are suffering unpleasant symptoms longer, delaying cancer surgery can quite simply be the difference between life and death.”
The specialist described how a six-year-old child with cancer could be eligible for treatment that would cure their disease and give them a “full and normal life” to the age of 80.
But if they were to wait for their surgery, the tumour may return in years, or even months, and be terminal.
She told the programme: “Quite simply put, the more patients we delay, the longer we delay them, the more likely they will move from that first category to that second category.”
Asked if the NHS was “over-prioritising” Covid-19 patients at the expense of cancer care – and whether facilities for only cancer patients should be set up – Prof Turnbull said: “A lot of us in the cancer community would argue for that. In many countries in Europe their cancer pathways have suffered much less because they have dedicated cancer facilities for diagnostics and treatment.”
