A mountain of cancelled operations is set to cost the NHS around £3billion – sparking a second devastating health crisis.
And one of Britain’s top surgeons last night begged the 20,000 retired staff who have returned to the frontline to fight coronavirus – asking them to stay on to clear the huge backlog.
The Sunday People can reveal that OVER TWO MILLION ops have been shelved after non-urgent surgery was cancelled for at least three months.
FOUR MILLION people, some in agony, are waiting for procedures such as hip and knee replacements and cataract and hernia ops, plus outpatient treatments.
THOUSANDS of cancers are being missed every week and could lead to an extra 50,000 deaths.
THE £3bn COST of the catch-up operation – based on last year’s annual £12bn bill – is likely to be higher as agency staff and the private sector will be asked to help.
Prof Derek Alderson, president of the Royal College of Surgeons in England, said: “We are probably only delivering around one third of our usual surgical activity and that’s nearly all for emergency and very urgent surgery. In the short term, we have to do a really major catch-up exercise to stop this backlog causing harm.
“The consequences are really serious. There are some patients who have cancers that are usually slow-growing but this may impact on long-term survival.
“A patient’s condition may deteriorate so they are no longer fit for the operation. Someone may be waiting for a hip replacement and may not be able to exercise and become even less fit for surgery. They may become addicted to opiates to manage their pain.
“Then there are all the mental health consequences.”
Postponing planned ops has, according to NHS England, freed up 12,000 beds for Covid-19 patients.
The procedures typically cost £1billion a month – a fee the health service will have to foot on top of its massive virus bill after the crisis has subsided.
It is feared the true financial toll of the pandemic will be much higher. Prof Alderson added: “All of the staff have been working enormously hard. They will need to rest before they tackle the other mountain that is waiting times. There is a genuine risk of burn-out.
“We have to convince people who have returned to the health service to stay.
“We have to find good working practices to make them feel valued.”
Another big fear is that numbers of suspected cancer sufferers being referred by doctors for urgent hospital appointments have dropped by 75 per cent.
Cancer Research UK reckons 2,300 cancers are being missed every week as a result and many patients’ operable cancers will become inoperable if they remain undetected.
Another 400 cancers a week are being missed because breast, cervical and bowel screening is suspended. And hospitals have shelved ops on early-stage cancers.
Professor Karol Sikora warned that the crisis could spark 50,000 extra cancer deaths. He said: “These are collateral damage in the war against coronavirus.”
Doctors also fear people are dying needlessly from emergencies because they are scared of going to hospital because of Covid-19.
The number of patients seeking treatment at A&E has fallen by almost 70 per cent compared with last year.
Heart attack and stroke admissions have halved in some parts.
The number of those dying at home soared by 51 percent in the four weeks to April 10.
Professor Martin James, consultant stroke physician at the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Stroke is still a medical emergency.
If you miss the opportunity to receive emergency treatment, brain damage is inevitable.
“We have patients who have had a stroke at home and have struggled on, knowing hospitals are under pressure.
I met a patient the other day who had lost her power of speech.”
Dr Sonya Babu-Narayan, associate medical director of the British Heart Foundation, added: “Heart attacks don’t stop for a pandemic.”
And consultant psychiatrist Andrew Molodynski, mental health lead for the British Medical Association, said the suicide rate – which rose in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis – is likely to go up again as jobs are lost and many firms have to fold.
He said: “We expect to see rises in depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. I don’t know how we’ll cope.
Therapy waiting lists are well over a year in some places and that will easily double.”
An NHS spokesman said: “While NHS staff have pulled out all the stops to manage coronavirus cases they have continued to work hard to ensure patients can safely access services.
Next week we will set out new guidance on redeploying some of the treatment capacity that was created while the number of Covid-19 patients rose sharply.
“A public information campaign is reminding people the NHS remains open for business.
It is important that non-Covid-19 patients can still safely access care and treatment.”
Cerys, 15, in agonising wait
Teen Cerys Davids is three months overdue for a lung scan that will determine if treatment for Grade 4 bone cancer worked.
The 15-year-old began palliative care a year ago after intensive treatment caused her liver to fail – but pulled through.
She then had her left leg amputated and further chemo to target the disease.
Dad Geraint, of Stafford, said: “I respect the urgency of coronavirus but Cerys’ care is my top priority. That scan could be lifesaving.”
Fears for mum
A NHS nurse who begged Boris Johnson not to cancel life-saving ops for non-Covid patients now fears her cancer- stricken mum will not survive the pandemic.
Jacqui Hale, a nurse for 25 years, wrote to the Prime Minister a month ago over fears for seriously ill patients at the Chapel End Surgery in Nuneaton, Warks, where she is an advanced nurse practitioner.
She told him: “We cannot cancel operations that are lifesaving. Please, I beg of you, look at this.” He never replied.
Since then her mum Katherine Lauro – who was told her oesophageal cancer was treatable when a 1cm tumour was discovered in December – has deteriorated after chemotherapy, due a month ago, was delayed.
Tests on Thursday revealed the disease has advanced from Stage 2 to Stage 3.
Retired councillor Katherine, 74, of Donisthorpe, Derbys, said: “I’m scared that the longer I wait the more aggressive it will become. My body isgetting weaker.”
The great-gran is now “in pain and unable to eat”. She has a provisional date of April 30 to start chemo – but fears this could be pushed back again.
Jacqui, 58, said: “I fear cancer and malnutrition will kill my mum.”
Flare-up peril
Bank worker Aimee Emery has multiple sclerosis – and fears she could go blind because she can’t have treatment that reduces flare- ups of her illness.
The 23-year-old, who has lost her sight during previous flare-ups, was due to have immunosuppressant drug alemtuzumab administered via a drip in hospital.
But because it is a type of chemotherapy that would attack her immune system and make her a high- risk for contracting Covid- 19, it has been postponed.
Aimee, of Dagenham, Essex, said: “I’m scared about what will happen if I have a relapse.”
