Cancer referrals hit 2.7m after pandemic slump

Almost 3 million people were referred for cancer checks in the past year, record-breaking NHS data reveals, after figures suggested the pandemic saw numbers plummet in 2020.

- EMILY ATKINSON

According to the health service, the number of patients receiving treatment for the disease has also risen by 2,000 since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, referrals for suspected cancer remained at around 116 per cent of pre-pandemic levels even during the peak of the Omicron wave, data from NHS England and NHS Improvement shows, and rose overall from 2.4 million to more than 2.6 million.

Around 315,000 patients started treatment compared with 313,000 before Covid-19 struck, they added.

Dame Cally Palmer, national cancer director for NHS England, said there were still 30,000 people who have not yet started treatment due to the pandemic, but that the latest figures suggested progress was being made.

"We are going further and faster than ever before in our ambitions to diagnose more cancers at an earlier stage so that we can save more lives," she said.

"We have seen record numbers of people coming forward for checks in the last year, but we know there are still at least 30,000 who haven't started treatment due to the pandemic, so it's vital that we keep these referral rates high." In order to meet the increasing demand for cancer checks, the NHS said it has expanded its services' diagnostic capabilities across the country in a range of I ways.