Advice Centre

Oncology care and the pandemic

Posted by: IMD Solicitors
Posted in: Coronavirus, Medical negligence, News
Date published: 21/07/2021

We all would like to live a long and a disease free life however, we know cancer is so prevalent. We know someone in our world with cancer.

So how will oncology care and life expectancy of cancer patients be affected during the  pandemic?

In the old days life expectancy was far less than it is today. Working conditions were poor and medicine was less advanced but now our life expectancy has increased and so has the many health issues with our ‘modern’ sedentary lifestyle. We expect to live longer but we have many health issues also.

Life expectancy can become an issue if  cancer cases patients do not receive a timely diagnosis and timely treatment. Their overall prognosis can be compromised and they may even die if the disease advances to a stage where it cannot be treated.

The NHS have currently the highest number of people waiting for non-urgent care for more than 12 months, made worse due to the pressures on the NHS caused by having to divert resources to caring for patients with the Coronavirus.

Life style and co-morbities can have an impact on life expectancy and so does just in time medical care and treatment.  Life expectancy is affected by the age, demographics, congenital diseases, socio-economic factors as well as pre-existing health issues. However, we now have the impact of the pandemic on top with of all this on cancer care.

In recent months we have seen many news headlines along the lines of:

• NHS longer than ever waiting list for patients waiting for care and treatment
• 5 million or more waiting for NHS treatment for longer than a year
• Cancer care being put on the side to deal with Covid patients
• Cancer surgery cancelled as Covid delays NHS care

Compared to previous years fewer people were seen for cancer treatment or for suspected cancer since the start of the pandemic due to the pressures on our healthcare system.

While it is appreciated that the hospitals were in battle ground mode since the pandemic started we still need to consider the challenges patients will face if their outcome was made worse due to the pandemic which is very likely scenario especially if this was due to a delay in diagnosis and treatment.

We deal with missed diagnosis of cancer claims where there were missed opportunities to investigate suspected cancer.   This is potential negligence.  We see the impact this has on the patients and their loved ones. The situation of delayed diagnosis and delayed treatment for cancer patients due to the pandemic is on a different level, though potentially, the outcome is the same.

Common cancers include cancer of the cervix, colon, breast and lung but there are many other cancers which if not diagnosed sooner can alter the patients’ overall outcome. By this we mean quality of life and chances of remission.

Can there be a claim for these patients for the delayed care during the pandemic and if so,  who would be the responsible party?

Potentially, the NHS Trust, Public Health England, NHS England or the Government. 

To what extent can patients prove breach of duty of care and causative loss when the reason why they were not seen sooner is because NHS resources were deployed to deal with a pandemic?   What likely defence will be offered?  A possible defence could be that hospitals and GPs were placed under immense pressure during the Coronavirus pandemic and staff had to be redeployed to care for Covid patients. The manpower and resources were stretched beyond limit that patients could not be seen sooner.  However, this is of no comfort to the family of say a young woman who reported a lump in her breast and she ends up dying of breast cancer because there was a delay in diagnosis and treatment.

Courts may be reluctant to blame hospitals and GPs because of the unexceptional pressures on them during the crisis however, we are dealing with real lives and this will be of no comfort to those families who have lost a loved one.

To people who are waiting to be seen and are suffering with a health condition we say do not suffer in silence. Get medical help. You can also talk to a lawyer who specialising in Clinical negligence. Nobody wants to blame anyone for the pandemic and the impact it has had but if there were failures and you have suffered it is worth speaking to someone  might be able to help.

This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal or professional advice. Please note that the law may have changed since this article was published.