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THE HSE HAS estimated up to 2,000 diagnoses of cancer may not have been made this year due to the impact of Covid-19 on its cancer services and on presentations of patients.
Professor Risteárd Ó Laoide, national director of the National Cancer Control Programme (NCCP), shared data from breast, lung and prostate clinics today which show significant dips in activity in March and April.
Despite the drop, at breast clinics referrals have now significantly overshot 2019 figures and referrals to lung and prostate rapid access clinics are showing a similar recovery in recent months.
Attendances at prostate rapid access clinics however are still down on 2019 attendances, now at 76% having dipped to 40% in the early stages of the pandemic.
He said the figures show the HSE has diagnosed about 90% of breast, lung and prostate cancers compared to last year – that’s 371 cases of “lost cancers” that have not been diagnosed in these categories compared to last year.
It’s difficult to extrapolate to the larger number of cancer patients in Ireland but potentially it could be up to 2,000 cases of missed cancer which will presumably appear, we hope, later in the year.
There was also an impact on treatment, with surgical oncology dropping to 37%, now at 71%.
The most important thing that we’ve been trying to do is efficient and effective triage of patients who are referred. This is very important because this is seeking out the most urgent case which need to be seen quickly.
He said pre-Covid capacity of these clinics was already stretched and operating in the pandemic environment has slowed the delivery of services.
“They were running at full speed before Covid and now they have two stones on their back and they’re continuing to run at full speed to provide the service.”
He said the number of clinics has been increased and some services are being provided virtually. Professor Ó Laoide said the HSE is also using new pathways with imaging, such as getting CAT scans before patients come to a lung clinic, so there is less patient footfall in hospitals.
He said there is “significant funding” for cancer services in the HSE’s Winter Plan and National Service Plan which will help to deal with some of the issues in the system.
“The Achilles heel of the system really is community transmission because what will knock our ability to deliver cancer series most is if there is an increase in community transmission and increased infection among staff and palatines,” he said.
“That’s what closes the wards, that’s what closes the clinics and that’s what really has the most significant impact on our ability to deal with patients.”
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Outrageous….covid covid covid…and little else….simply outrageous!
@Isabella Hickey: and more covid
@Isabella Hickey: what was the alternative? Carry on. What would have happened if there were Covid outbreaks among cancer patients?
@Isabella Hickey: And that’s just cancer diagnosis. The list is endless.
Lockdowns kill people particularly the poor
Its nothing short of a national disgrace that neither the Govt or Nphet have not published a cost benefit analysis on this social experiment And media’s silence on the subject is deafening
@Thomas O’ Donnell: Yes, carry on was the alternative. If there was an outbreak they could have been isolated and treated. Not everybody who contracts convos dies.
@JedBartlett: *covid
@Thomas O’ Donnell: The alternative was not to scare the public into submission and have people too nervous to attend these check ups. If you don’t believe that scaring has been one of the key tactics of the media and health authorities then you haven’t been paying attention.
@Isabella Hickey: exactly, work in the area, though not a medic, utterly scandalous!
@Thomas O’ Donnell: how would they have known if they had cancer if they weren’t diagnosed. That’s one of the problems concentrating so much on one illness.
@james s: follow up scans missed you ham sandwich.
The real death toll from our governments action will not be known for a long time. They kept the Covid deaths down but at a disproportionate cost from other illnesses.
History won’t look back on this favoutably I’m afraid.
@Mark Malone: exactly, there is no balance with the new covid religion. The epidemic was in April with deaths running at v low levels now. If the HSE / nphet could control hospital transmission and their nursing homes things would be better again. Perspective and balance have been totally lost now. But hey if nphet don’t lose their jobs, business, life savings, marriage, mental health, miss a cancer diagnosis that’s all good…..right.
@Mark Malone: as long as they are re-elected before History looks back…
At what point I wonder will someone have (or be brave enough!) to make the call that the cure might be worse than the disease? And no, I’m not downplaying the seriousness of Covid as an illness nor am I a non mask-wearing, anti-vaxxer conspiracy theorist. I understand the situation Governments find themselves in but ultimately the cost that may be paid in deaths due to missed diagnoses, mental health problems, domestic violence etc. will have to be factored into future strategies. The idea that Public Health involves a huge range of issues and more than just containing Covid seems to have been lost somewhere along the way only to be replaced with a disturbing tunnel vision by those responsible for same as far as I can tell. Just my opinion by the way I don’t claim to be an expert.
“Despite the drop, at breast clinic referrals have no significantly overshot 2019 figures and referrals to lung and prostate rapid access clinics are showing similar recovery in recent months.” Really? Is there some form of consolation in here? Couldn’t a late diagnosis be as bad as a misdiagnosis or no diagnosis? And what about the level of care- with all the “calls to arms” and other noises from the HSE boss, you’d wonder..
A relative of mine successfully got his tumor removed last year (summer) and had been doing regular check ups and everything was going according to plan, come March checkup which was due in May was cancelled but there was no reason for concern. Suddenly in August a lump started to appear again and grew very quickly, he called the doctor and got an appointment within a few days and was confirmed the cancer had come back suddenly and aggressively, he was attended to very quickly once he called with his concerns, scans consultantations made within days and is currently undergoing treatment which is due to end in coming weeks. There’s no guarantee if he went to his cancelled appointment earlier in year that it would of been noticed or even there. He got seen too promptly as soon as he needed.
He got seen to quickly because he was aware of the underlying issue and brought it to the attention of relevant doctors. The point is, what about people who are unaware of underlying issues but miss screening appointments due to covid?
@Sam Glynn: Maybe if his check-up in May hadn’t been cancelled the reappearance of the tumour could have been caught earlier giving him a better chance of recovery…there’s a 3 month time-lag here…could be vital. Hope his treatment goes well.
@Ivan O’Connell: he doubts it very much as his checkups didn’t consist of xrays or tests of any kind. There definitely wasn’t a lump or any sign of one in May. Fingers crossed his treatment goes well…. He’s in his 90s would be horrible for the cancer to take him at this stage. Luckily he’s not sick from it, just slight pain where lump is. He’ll be finished treatment christmas week thankfully.
@Conor King: I’m not denying that. Your point is very valid.
Someone high up has to go to jail for this covid 19 is not the killer it’s made out to beast soon as people realise this the better cancer is great risk to anyone and should be priority b4 covid it’s a joke this country and nephew just looking for air time on tv every night answer them better to put there time into what they trained for and keep there opinions to themselves and open up or try open up the country how many more is going to die from other illnesses b4 they cop on and drop the sh?t carry on
Covid is not the big killer
People who are advocating lockdowns are often claiming that the others don’t care about others and just being selfish.
I don’t think anyone pro or against lockdown is per se the one the others.
It just feels for me that the lockdown cheering is easier if you don’t have to think about cancer, mental illness, domestic violence, livelihoods of pub and small business owners, mortgages…
Nobody should advocate for the one nor the other extreme
It we chose a softer approach as some suggest, it would have resulted by a worse outbreak. As a result, we could have ended up with as many or more people too scared to attend cancer screening, and we would have had a higher COVID-19 death toll.
We cannot expect that a softer approach would have resulted in less anxiety and increased attendance of cancer screening. It’s likely it would not have worked out that way. Some seem to think a softer approach would make the virus go away, no it would have been hard to ignore the higher death toll.
@David Jordan: There really is no way for you to know that. It’s pure speculation on your part. No doubt you will claim it’s informed speculation but I would call it cherry-picking to suit a narrative. Now please don’t start quoting reams of statistics and academic references at me as as you like to do when trying to slap someone down on this site. This is the comments section of The Journal not ‘New Scientist’ or ‘Nature’. When you do so it’s hard to tell if your intention is to inform or to impress with the depth of your supposed knowledge. I think it’s the latter. You frequently commit the fallacy of speaking from authority. You seem a ‘sciency’ sort of guy so maybe consider what Carl Sagan said ‘Mistrust arguments from authority…’ And he was an authority…
@David Jordan: I think 2000 missed cancer diagnosis blows your point clean out of the water. End of discussion, no references needed.
@David Jordan: would you have any references for what overall % recover from a cancer diagnosis versus what % recover from covid and a treatment path comparison for both cohorts ..I’ll wait
@Declan: we still do not know what the recovery is from covid as we have still not seen all its affects and damage it can cause long term
I was sickened when I heard the reason the government won’t do Lung CT scans assessing for lung cancer assessment and lung cancer screening tests because the government were afraid to sort the medicolegal payouts costs despite it being North American basic standard of care to do lung CT screening scans and it being more effective than breast cancer screening programs
Completely blinkered by C19, nothing else seems to matter, total tunnel vision. Absolutely disgraceful & they need to be held accountable, but we all know they won’t. What a shambles.
Yeah and the rest!
I’d love to see a pole from real people on how many actually know someone who’s tested positive for covid. I personally know one. A friend of a friend (recovered in a week) I’m in Dublin, the supposed epicentre of the country. Anyone else I speak to about this says the same thing. the odd one knows the odd person, others who think they had it. Who are all these people that are getting it? No doubt some are actually getting it, (99.97% survival rate) but I believe this has been blown massively out of proportion. To what end? I don’t have the answer, but I know it’s resulted in stricter government control. I for one want to see an end to these lock downs, protect those who are ultra vulnerable, keep practicing common sense regarding hygiene.
That horrendous, probably photoshopped, image doesn’t do anything to allay the genuine fears of people who may be desperately waiting for appointments, scans, or treatment.
Who fact checks the fact checkers #fakenews
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