It is estimated that around 8,600 women are living with undetected breast cancer in the UK after screening services were paused
Almost a million breast cancer screening appointments have been missed in the United Kingdom due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to a UK charity.
The UK-based charity, Breast Cancer Now, have estimated that around 986,000 women have missed appointments for mammograms in the UK after screening services were paused due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This comes after a minister has suggested that tighter social restrictions could potentially be imposed if COVID-19 infections in the UK continue to rise. Helen Whately blames restrictions on household mixing as a newspaper says a government source claims the action “will have to come”.
This includes 838,000 women across England, 78,000 in Scotland, 48,000 in Wales and 23,000 in Northern Ireland.
The charity have also estimated that about 8,600 women in the UK could potentially be living with breast cancer has not yet been detected.
Breast screening services had been temporarily halted in order to free up emergency resources for the NHS, as well as trying to help reduce the spread of the coronavirus.
Breast Cancer Now have said that it “is a grave concern” that around one million women will be caught in the backlog for screenings which will lead to further delays in breast cancer diagnosis, adding that the screening services have resumed at varying speeds throughout the country.
The charity has called upon the NHS, as well as the government to set out how they plan to tackle an anticipated rise in demand for imaging and diagnostics.
Chief executive at Breast Cancer Now, Baroness Delyth Morgan, said: “Mammograms are a key tool in the early detection of breast cancer, which is critical to stopping women dying from the disease.”
“We understand that the breast screening programme was paused out of necessity due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, but we must now press play to ensure that all women can access breast screening, and we cannot afford for the programme to be paused again.”
This comes after University students across the country have told of the impact that COVID-19 restrictions have had on campuses throughout the UK and have demanded that they are refunded part of their tuition fees.
A spokesperson for NHS England said: “The vast majority of cancers detected through screening programmes are at a very early stage and so any impact on patients who were due to be screened is extremely low.”
“More than 200,000 people were treated for cancer during the peak of the pandemic, breast screening services are now fully up and running with over 400,000 women invited between June and August and thousands more invites are now being sent every month – we would encourage anyone who is invited to book an appointment.”
The charity’s analysis comes after leaked data, reported by the Health Service Journal, revealed that the number of people on waiting lists after being referred to cancer services increased from 50,000 in August to 58,000 in September.
This included nearly 6,400 people who waited more than 100 days for a specialist appointment after referral.
