![Half with cancer symptoms didn’t contact GP during first Covid wave](https://chadlaw.dnsupdate.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/iStock_000053805204_Small-740x388.jpg)
02
Mar 2021
Half with cancer symptoms didn’t contact GP during first Covid wave
A survey has suggested that nearly half of people with potential signs of cancer did not contact their GP during the first wave of the pandemic.
The team from Cancer Research UK and Cardiff University that carried out the survey, said this raised concerns that people could be diagnosed at a later stage, and so be less likely to be treated successfully and go on to recover.
Some of the reasons given were not wanting to put extra strain on the NHS; not wanting to waste doctors’ time; fear of catching Covid at appointments and not wanting to be seen as someone who made a fuss.
Study leader Professor Kate Brain, said she was concerned that the message during the first lockdown, to protect the NHS may have left the public thinking “cancer can wait”, as during the first months of the pandemic, people were largely discouraged from using health services and many screening services were closed down.
Although it has been widely reported that cancer referrals for treatment and screenings have falling, Professor Brain said this was the first population study to assess people’s “attitude and behaviour toward cancer symptoms and screening”.
Professor Brain went on to call for a concerted national campaign to encourage people to contact their GPs with any urgent issues.
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Posted by Tony May, Partner/head of Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (tonymay@chadlaw.co.uk ), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.
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