Coronavirus Means These Cancer Patients Must Delay Lifesaving Treatment Or Risk Deadly Infection
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Cancer patients are living in turmoil as pressurised hospitals make the difficult decision to delay vital surgery and treatment during the coronavirus outbreak.
If medics bring sick people into hospital for treatments such as chemotherapy or radiotherapy, they risk exposing them to Covid-19, highly dangerous for those with compromised immune systems. But if the choice is made to delay treatment, it could come at a possible detriment to their life. Doctors also fear they may not be able to guarantee patients a bed if they become seriously ill.
NHS England has told hospitals essential and urgent cancer treatments must continue but that specialists should discuss with their patients whether it is riskier for them to undergo or delay treatment at this time.
Some newly diagnosed cancer patients have already been informed that treatment such as surgery will be delayed while others have had chemotherapy cancelled. But they fear they may become the hidden victims of the pandemic if diagnosis or treatment is delayed, or if the halting of preventive chemotherapy leads to cancer returning.
Early diagnosis and treatment are crucial to improving survival rates, particularly when it comes to breast, bowel and ovarian cancers.
Liz Alderton, a district nurse in north-east London, revealed she had assessed three newly diagnosed cancer patients in one day who had been told they would not have treatment due to Covid-19. She said: “All will die sooner than they would have. These are the figures that are not recorded.”
Liz is a Queen’s Nurse, a title bestowed upon nursing staff who have given exceptional service to patients.
