A patient is prepared for a CT scan (File picture)
(Picture: PA)The number of cancer diagnoses in London dropped by 14 per cent during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Standard can reveal.
Analysis of figures published by NHS Digital showed that a total of 32,284 people in the capital were diagnosed with the disease in 2020 – a fall of over 5,400 on the year before.
It is also the lowest total for London since 2013, when 32,225 people were diagnosed.
The figures reflect the scale of the disruption to diagnostics caused by the virus, with fewer patients coming forward to GPs with symptoms and being referred for tests. Experts have also warned that NHS staffing shortages and increasing workloads have impacted the health service’s diagnostic capacity.
New diagnoses in the capital had been trending upwards prior to the pandemic. A total of 37,634 people were diagnosed in 2019, an increase of 11 per cent in five years.
There were 288,753 new cancer diagnoses across all regions in England, which is a drop of around 12 per cent on the year before and the largest annual decrease since records began. Diagnoses in London represented less than a tenth (8.9 per cent) of England’s overall total.
The biggest change in male cancer diagnoses was in prostate cancer, which fell nationally by 11,463 (24 per cent) from 2019 to 2020.
It comes as the NHS attempts to deal with a record backlog in care. Earlier this month, the Standard revealed that nearly a million Londoners were waiting for routine hospital treatment at the end of August.
The Government has promised to deliver 160 community diagnostic centres (CDCs) by 2020, which will offer blood tests, x-rays and ultrasound scans. Ministers claim the CDCs will speed up the diagnostic process by offering testing closer to home and eliminating unnecessary hospital trips.
Minesh Patel, head of policy at MacMillan Cancer Support, said that delays in being diagnosed and treated for cancer “remain an agonising reality for tens of thousands of people”.
“There simply aren't enough professionals to care for people living with cancer, and despite their best efforts, this is leaving existing staff struggling under ever-increasing workloads. This is unsustainable, and unsafe,” he said.
