'One in ten' expected cancers not diagnosed in 2020, says Irish Cancer Society
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Loading... - Margarita Zavala
- 01 Feb 2023
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One in ten expected cancers were not diagnosed in 2020 - the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic - according to the Irish Cancer Society, equivalent to 2,600 people.
In a submission to the Oireachtas Health Committee, Irish Cancer Society Chief Executive Averil Power said the figures "reflect just one year of the pandemic".
"These are real people with loved ones, for whom a delayed cancer diagnosis is not a statistic, it's a whole world collapsing," she said.
Ms Power told members: "Patients are not being given the best chance of surviving cancer due to long wait times and overcrowding in the health system.
"The earlier cancer is caught, the easier it is to treat, and the greater the person’s chances are of surviving the disease. The five-year survival for breast cancer for example is 94% at stage one and only 19% at stage four."
Ms Power said that people with diagnoses that may have been picked up at a later stage due to the pandemic "are having to run the gauntlet of packed hospitals to receive care and treatment".
"There is also concern that others may be put off seeking medical assistance due to the chaos," she added. Read More…
