SPECIAL REPORT: Test delays mean thousands are unaware they have cancer
It's thought thousands of people are going about life, unaware that they have cancer, because of major delays to screening.
Last updated 11th Aug 2020
It's thought thousands of people across the North West are continuing about their lives, unaware that they have cancer.
Our investigation into the impact the coronavirus pandemic is having on cancer has uncovered 3 million people are now waiting for breast, bowel or cervical screening.
Screening was effectively paused in England when the virus outbreak began, with figures suggesting a major backlog in cases are now building within the cancer system.
On average, around 41,000 people in the North West are tested and diagnosed with cancer every year.
'It's the hidden crisis and we don't even know who is affected'
Professor Karol Sikora's a consultant oncologist and Chief Medical Officer at Rutherford Health plc, he worries about the impact delays will be having on the spread of cancer within patients.
"It's the hidden crisis and of course we don't even know who is affected.
"The problem with many cancer patients is they've not been diagnosed yet because of the delay. The delay is partly caused by themselves by being afraid to go forward with symptoms and partly caused by the system.
"It's been difficult to get biopsies, to get the scans, MR scans and the CT scans because the priority of the NHS for the last three months has been Covid. But now we've got to recover. We're in a recovery phase.
"We've not been good at getting back to the normal numbers of patients coming through."
But most experts are confident that the NHS and cancer services will be able to cope with the increasing backlog if they adapt how services are operated.
Professor Sikora tells us the NHS is capable of facing challenges, as proven during the COVID crisis.
"It may be that we have to be imaginative about how we have the scanning department open. Let's open up a bit longer and speed it up and really try and get the backlog clear so that no one's waiting more than a week or two."
There's a push to remind the public and people with concerns about symptoms that the NHS is open for business, and that efforts are being made to create 'COVID-protected' spaces to carry out cancer tests and get screening back on track.