has been a dramatic drop in the number
of people being seen by cancer
specialists during the pandemic NHS
England figures show a big fall in
cancer referrals by GPS in April this
year down 60% compared to 2019 jimp
breast cancer referrals saw an even
larger drop down by 78% cancer charities
are worried people who have symptoms are
too frightened to seek help Lauren loss
reports restarting and fast tracking
Cancer Care this is one of the new chemo
buses the NHS is using to treat patients
during the covert pandemic Pauline is 75
and has lung cancer the hospital
situation is far too crowded I mean not
in radiotherapy it's not just very clear
there
chemotherapy patients the buses supplied
by a charity arrived at North Middlesex
Hospital after coronavirus patients
filled the wards in April was like a
tsunami I don't think we ever thought it
would hit us there fast rate of knots
that it actually did we definitely are
at reduced capacity from what we were
doing sort of pre covered but we've had
to do that in order to be able to treat
as many people as possible figures today
have revealed just how severely services
have been affected in England with the
number of patients referred to cancer
specialists dropping from almost 200,000
to 80,000 in April it's not just new
patients potentially being missed the
medication 54 year-old Joanna Addis from
Stockport takes for incurable breast
cancer was paused because it could make
her vulnerable to coronavirus I don't
want to be in a situation where my life
is shortened any more than it should be
precise high-dose radiotherapy machines
like this one in Middlesbrough is
another way treatment is changing to
minimise time in hospital and the risk
of kovat while in North London around 20
patients a day receive chemotherapy
nearly the same number treated before
the outbreak
consultations are done by telephone or
video call patients have their blood
taken in a separate building and then
receive chemotherapy in these mobile
units here everything taking place away
from the main hospital but with such a
drop in referrals charities are
concerned it could lead to a ticking
time bomb in undiagnosed cases but I
think to anybody watching this I say if
you've got any lumps or bumps any pains
that can't be explained and haven't gone
away or anything at all that's worrying
you get in touch with your GP today the
rest of the UK will publish waiting time
figures in the coming weeks with
charity's warning that cancer must not
become the Forgotten sea of the pandemic
Laura Moss BBC news the government has
been accused of failing to publish a
report containing measures to protect
ethnic minority groups from catching
coronavirus last week public health
England's review confirmed that people
from black Asian and minority
backgrounds were dying at
disproportionately higher rates a senior
health official has told the BBC a
second report containing recommendations
to protect Bahm communities exists
public health England has said the
report will be published next week our
community affairs correspondent Rihanna
Crockford
has this exclusive report Suhail spent
more than three weeks in a coma after
capturing coronavirus he's one of
thousands of people from ethnic minority
groups to become seriously ill with the
disease
I still haven't come to terms with it or
haven't fully processed it because of
the trauma I went through the government
commissioned a review into why people
like Suhail were being disappointingly
affected Mike overed 19 the report
published last week confirms that those
from mainly black and Asian backgrounds
were at a higher risk of death but
caused great controversy for failing to
make any recommendations
BBC News has learnt a second report
exists that hasn't yet officially being
made public and understands it makes a
number of proposals our print about the
first three pages so I can't show you
them but there they are
the BBC has spoken to a senior
demmick who was asked to review the
second report he says the documents
which contain both recommendations and a
lengthy community consultation must be
published if you consult the public you
must publish the results otherwise
you've wasted their time you've wasted
your own time you've wasted taxpayers
money and you've lost trust I know what
a government report looks like and I
know what a government report looks like
when it's ready to go to press but last
week in Parliament the equalities
Minister didn't even acknowledge the
existence of this report the PhD did not
make recommendations and that's because
they were not able to do so some of the
data needed is not routinely correct are
collected and acquiring this data will
be extremely beneficial and as I said in
my response that's why I'm going to be
taking work forward to fill the gaps in
our understanding and review existing
policies develop new ones where needed
off the back of this the government now
says she was referring only to the
published report the shadow health
secretary told the BBC blocking this
second report was scandalous I mostly
shot and I think it's totally
unacceptable that this report has not
been published so far but ministers were
not clear about this report when they
addressed the House of Commons just a
few days ago if there's a report sitting
on a shelf with recommendations those
recommendations should be implemented we
need action to protect some of the most
vulnerable people in society public
health England said this important
engagement work will inform the work the
equalities Minister is now taking
forward we intend to both formally
submit this work to the minister next
week and we'll publish it at the same
time these are just some of those who
have died with coronavirus a report
designed to protect others in their
communities currently lies unpublished
and unseen by most briana Crockford BBC
news