Hundreds of thousands of cancer patients in England face being diagnosed late in the coming years, MPs have warned, as they condemned the government’s failure to tackle the NHS staffing shortages that risk survival rates going into reverse.
In a 52-page report on cancer services, the Commons health and social care committee said the absence of any serious attempt by ministers to fill gaps in the cancer workforce was jeopardising efforts to improve survival rates. MPs added that without action 340,000 patients between 2019 and 2028 will be denied an early diagnosis, which could mean the difference between life and death.
The verdict came after an inquiry by MPs found there was no detailed plan to address shortages of clinical oncologists, consultant pathologists, radiologists and specialist cancer nurses.
“Earlier cancer diagnosis is the key to improving overall survival rates. However, progress is being jeopardised by staff shortages which threaten both diagnosis and treatment,” said Jeremy Hunt, the chair of the committee, who said the Covid crisis had exacerbated the problems in cancer care. “We are further concerned at the damaging and prolonged impact of the pandemic on cancer services, with a real risk that gains made in cancer survival will go into reverse.
“A mother told us of her 27-year-old daughter’s five-month struggle to get a diagnosis of cancer – tragically she died three weeks after it came. Unfortunately, many more lives will almost certainly end prematurely without earlier diagnosis and prompt treatment.
“That is why we are calling on the government and the NHS to act now to address gaps in the cancer workforce upon which success depends. To date we have found little evidence of a serious effort to do so.”
Despite claims the NHS protected cancer services during the pandemic, 3 million fewer people in the UK were invited for cancer screening between March and September 2020, MPs discovered.
Between March 2020 and March 2021, 326,000 fewer people in England received an urgent referral for suspected cancer. About 4.6m fewer key diagnostic tests were carried out, the report added.
Witnesses told MPs that they had been forced to “ration treatment”, and likened working in cancer services during the pandemic to “working 25 years ago”. MPs also highlighted that because of pressure on GPs, family doctors may not spot as many potential cancer cases. They said that urgent cancer referrals have begun to recover but waiting time targets are being missed, which risks “greater numbers of late diagnoses”.
The MPs said the best way to improve survival rates would be to diagnose more cancers at an earlier stage, but achieving ambitions to improve early detection rates would be difficult without sufficient staffing. “Neither earlier diagnosis nor additional prompt cancer treatment will be possible without addressing gaps in the cancer workforce and we found little evidence of a serious effort to do this,” the MPs said.
“This report sounds the alarm to government, loud and clear, about the severe staff shortages within the NHS and sheer lack of realistic targets in place to fill the gaps,” said Minesh Patel, the head of policy at Macmillan Cancer Support. “This is causing huge anxiety for people living with cancer.”
Dr Ian Walker, the executive director of policy, information and communications for Cancer Research UK, said the report exposed the government’s “persistent failure” to address chronic staff shortages. The co-founder of the #CatchUpWithCancer campaign, Professor Pat Price, warned that unless urgent action was taken to address the shortages, “this will translate into more people dying younger and unnecessarily”, adding: “This is a crisis that should be at the top of the prime minister’s priority list”.
NHS England said cancer had been a priority for the NHS “throughout the pandemic”. It added: “We have been seeing referrals for cancer checks at record highs for the last 11 months – with more than 567,000 people starting cancer treatment since the start of the pandemic – and by investing £3.8bn in increased treatment and diagnostic capacity through the elective recovery plan we aim to ensure that we are catching and treating more cancers at an early stage and saving even more lives.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said the government will invest £8bn over the next three years to cut the backlog and deliver an extra 9m checks, scans and operations by 2025, as well as up to 160 community diagnostic centres.
