It has prompted NHS clinical director for cancer, Professor Peter Johnson, to declare that “cancer treatment hasn’t stopped” because of coronavirus and he is urging people with cancer symptoms not to delay in seeking medical help.

The study from University College London (UCL) and DATA-CAN, the Health Data Research Hub for Cancer, examined real-time weekly hospital data for urgent cancer referrals and chemotherapy attendances during the epidemic.

It found that the majority of patients with cancer or suspected cancer are not accessing health services.

Analyzing figures from Leeds Teaching Hospitals’ NHS Trust, the Royal Free in London and University College London Hospitals, and all five health trusts in Northern Ireland, it found an average reduction in attendance for chemotherapy of 60% and a 76% average drop in cancer referrals for early diagnosis.

Comparing the data from 3.5 million patients, the report’s authors estimated that pre-COVID-19, about 31,354 newly diagnosed cancer patients would die within a year in England.

But as a result of coronavirus, they found there could be at least 6,270 extra deaths in newly diagnosed cancer patients – a rise of a fifth.

When all people currently living with cancer are included, the figure jumps to 17,915 excess deaths.

Professor Johnson told Sky News: “Cancer treatment hasn’t stopped but we have seen a big reduction in the number of people coming forward and we’d like to reverse that because the system is open for business.”

He highlighted the new “COVID-free cancer hubs”, set up to provide surgery, while independent sector hospitals have signed a deal with the NHS to offer treatment.

Prof Johnson said: “NHS staff have made huge efforts to deal with coronavirus but they are also working hard to ensure that patients can safely access essential services such as cancer checks and urgent surgery.

“From online consultations to the roll-out of cancer treatment hubs, we are doing all we can to make sure patients receive the lifesaving care that they need.”

The UK’s leading cancer hospital, the Royal Marsden, is coordinating one of the London cancer hubs.

The operating theatres are open and busy, and clinical teams from up to ten different hospitals are sharing facilities.

This means if intensive care units are full of COVID-19 patients, cancer patients can still be operated on.

One of those to benefit from the cancer hub is John Philpot, who was diagnosed with bowel cancer in February.

His surgeon initially told him his operation was being delayed, but he was recently able to access treatment at another hospital.

Philpot says he feels “lucky” the system could treat him. “If you know you’ve got something growing away inside you, you want rid of it and you want to deal with it as fast as possible,” he said.

Managing vulnerable cancer patients in the middle of a pandemic isn’t easy, but there are concerns that if people don’t seek the care they need, there will be bigger problems in the future.

Dr. Nick van as, medical director at the Marsden, said: “One of the worries we have is people sitting at home and they’re ignoring symptoms which otherwise they may have attended to. We know if we catch cancer early in most cases we have much better outcomes.”

The hospital has seen an increase in patients canceling appointments and the breast clinic has reported a drop in referrals, even though its clinical services are still running.

If the trend continues it could mean thousands more early deaths from cancer that could otherwise have been avoided.

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The warning says there has been an “apparent rise in the number of children of all ages presenting with a multi-system inflammatory state requiring intensive care across London and also other regions of the UK” over the last three weeks, the Independent reported.

The NHS England alert, shared by the Paediatric Intensive Care Society on Sunday evening, adds: “There is a growing concern that a (COVID-19) related inflammatory syndrome is emerging in children in the UK, or that there may be another, as yet unidentified, an infectious pathogen associated with these cases.”

It is not known how many children have been affected, however, the illness has been seen in children who have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, as well as those who have not had the disease.

The condition has the characteristics of severe COVID-19, and also shares certain features of toxic shock syndrome and atypical Kawasaki Disease, according to the alert.

Abdominal pain and gastrointestinal symptoms “have been a common feature” of the illness, as has cardiac inflammation.

Doctors have been asked to urgently refer to any patients showing signs of these.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the UK coronavirus lockdown cannot yet be eased as he returned to work on Monday after recovering from the disease for three weeks.

He said there were signs the country was “turning the tide” against the virus but warned the public that it was too early to lift the restrictions.

The global pandemic has now infected more than three million people worldwide, including at least 152,840 people in the UK.

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As the death toll rises, the government is facing growing criticism over its response to the pandemic. It was slower to impose a lockdown than European peers and is struggling to raise its testing capacity.

Back in mid-March, the government’s chief scientific adviser said that keeping the death toll below 20,000 would be a “good outcome”.

Deaths from COVID-19 in hospitals across the United Kingdom increased Friday by 684 in 24 hours to 19,506, meaning the 20,000 marks may well be crossed Saturday, Reuters reported.

Britain has the fifth-highest official coronavirus death toll in the world, after the United States, Italy, Spain, and France. Scientists have said that the death rate will only start to decline quickly in another couple of weeks.

The total number of deaths is likely to be thousands higher once more comprehensive but lagging figures that include deaths in nursing homes are added. As of April 10, the hospital toll underestimated deaths by around 40 percent.

Stephen Powis, the medical director of the National Health Service (NHS) in England, declined to give a new number, but told BBC Radio:

“It will take some time, it may take many years, before the full effect of the pandemic is known in this country.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is still recovering after falling seriously ill with COVID-19 earlier this month and in his absence, government ministers have been struggling to explain high death rates, limited testing, and shortages of protective equipment for medical workers and carers.

There are concerns that limited testing could mean a slow exit from lockdown and a worse hit for Britain’s economy, the world’s fifth-largest.

The government’s target of hitting 100,000 tests per day by the end of April is just days away. Reaching it would require a big leap from the 28,532 tests carried out on 23 April, the last day for which data is available.

Striking a positive note, medical director Powis said the NHS had not been overwhelmed in the way that hospitals in some other countries have been. Healthcare providers were now preparing to ramp up non-coronavirus treatments, such as restarting planned surgeries.

“As we are now beginning to see a decline, a decrease, in the number of patients with coronavirus, it is absolutely the time to start building up our services again,” he said.

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Britain is at or near the peak of an outbreak of the coronavirus in which more than 14,000 people have already died – the fifth highest national death toll of a pandemic linked to at least 150,000 deaths worldwide.

The government issued new guidance to hospitals Friday, setting out that alternatives to fluid-repellent full-length gowns may need to be used, including reusable gowns or even long-sleeved laboratory coats.

“This guidance is a further admission of the dire situation that some doctors and healthcare workers continue to find themselves in because of government failings,” said Rob Harwood, Consultants Committee chairman at the British Medical Association – the trade union for doctors, Reuters reported.

“If it’s being proposed that staff reuse equipment, this must be demonstrably driven by science and the best evidence – rather than availability – and it absolutely cannot compromise the protection of healthcare workers.”

Britain’s response to the coronavirus outbreak – which has lagged that of European peers – is a source of increasing political criticism for Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who himself contracted the virus and is now recovering from a spell in intensive care.

Health minister Matt Hancock told a committee of lawmakers Friday that Britain was “tight on gowns” but had 55,000 more arriving and was aiming to get the right equipment where it was needed by the end of this weekend.

A health department spokesman said the new guidance was to ensure that staff knew what to do to minimize risk if shortages did occur. They said the new rules remained in line with international standards.

The Royal College of Nursing said it had written “in the strongest terms” to express their concerns over the rules change, and said they had not been consulted about them.

NHS Providers, a body which represents hospitals and other parts of Britain’s publicly funded National Health Service (NHS), said supply levels of gowns were critical.

“It is now clear that some trusts will run out of fully fluid repellent gowns this weekend,” deputy chief executive Saffron Cordery said.

The body said China was the only immediately available source of the gowns, meaning there was an international competition for supplies. It also said there had been problems with consignments arriving from China, such as stock labelled as gowns actually containing face masks.

The post UK Health Workers Slam Government over Protection Shortages appeared first on Iran News Daily.

Almost a third (32.5%) of UK surgeons say they do not have access to enough masks, gowns and other clothing to keep them safe, a new survey reveals.

The widespread lack of PPE for frontline staff is “a disgrace”, according to the Royal College of Surgeons of England, which collated the views of 1,978 surgeons and surgical trainees.

“There are often young doctors and nurses, many with kids at home, putting themselves in challenging situations without proper PPE. It’s not acceptable, morally or ethically, that people should put their lives at risk to do their job unless they have adequate PPE,” Sue Hill, the college’s vice-president, told the Observer, the Guardian reported.

The findings come amid a growing row after health secretary Matt Hancock sparked controversy by urging NHS staff not to use any more PPE than is clinically justified. The Royal College of Nursing and the British Medical Association criticized his remarks.

Hill was responding to the college’s survey, which also found:

Up to 70% of surgeons in some parts of the UK have seen shortages of PPE in their hospital in the last month;

Across the UK 41% of surgeons believe there is enough PPE where they work, but 39% of those in Scotland and 36% in the north-west of England report a shortage;

Half of the surgeons doubt they will be able to get a test to tell them if they have COVID-19.

Hill, a vascular surgeon in Wales, said Hancock’s pledge that millions of pieces of PPE are on order mean little to NHS staff, given the heavy usage COVID-19 involves. “When I’m operating I put on a hat, visor, proper ventilating mask, two pairs of gloves and a full-length surgical gown – six pieces of PPE. So does my assistant, two scrub nurses and two anesthetists. That’s 36 pieces of PPE for just one operation.”

One of the surgeons said the lack of masks was scandalous. They and their colleagues were “spoken to” by hospital managers for wearing masks and gloves when visiting patients onwards, even though one coronavirus carrier infected at least six members of staff. Another said: “We’ve been sent to war but with no protective armor.”

Overall, 72% of surgeons believe the UK will not be able to end the three-week-long lockdown until the general public can get tested for COVID-19.

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