Julian urges Health Secretary to prevent rise in non-covid deaths from NHS pandemic disruption
April 20, 2021
In the House of Commons yesterday afternoon, Julian pressed Matt Hancock on the NHS catching up with non-covid medical conditions to prevent rising deaths from other diseases, now virus deaths have fallen so low.
Throughout the pandemic, Julian has lobbied government to ensure the right balance is struck between beating coronavirus in York, and not allowing a backlog of undiagnosed conditions and delayed treatment to build up, which could have similarly damaging or fatal results for residents. He has been active in raising the question of resuming routine care for non-covid conditions through parliamentary questions to Ministers, and engagement with York’s NHS.
During the Health Secretary’s update statement on coronavirus, Julian asked:
“Given the seven-day rolling average of covid deaths is now 24.9, with just 10 yesterday, while in normal times the daily cancer death toll averages over 450, a figure sadly likely to rise due to the delayed treatment and disruption of the pandemic, what is the government doing to catch up with the cancer screening and operations backlog, and get the health service back towards other medical conditions, so that the death toll from non-covid cases does not become the worst legacy of this emergency?”.
Matt Hancock replied: “It’s an incredibly important topic. I’m pleased to say that over the second peak this winter the amount of cancer work, cancer surgery, cancer treatment, continued much, much more close to normal, but he’s quite right that in the first peak it was reduced significantly.
We are very focused on this backlog that’s been created by the pandemic, but I am also pleased of course that the death toll from covid is coming down. In fact, the very latest data shows that the number of deaths recorded with covid…..published today is 4. Now those numbers do tend to be lower at the weekend, and each one of them we mourn.
Nevertheless, it reinforces his point that it is vital that we get on with getting through the backlog that has been created by the pandemic.”
After leaving the Commons, Julian said: “Given the serious consequences of delayed treatment, and the concern expressed by a number of residents to me about the impact of covid on routine NHS services, I thought it was vital to flag the danger of a ‘hidden covid death toll’ from disrupted care for other conditions with the Health Secretary.
York’s NHS did an excellent job of keeping on top of cancer cases as much as possible during the pandemic, but we need national leadership and focus on the non-covid conditions backlog to support them in this big task. From Matt Hancock’s answer, I am significantly reassured that this is a major priority for the Department of Health, and he recognises the importance of overcoming this challenge.
I will continue to lobby the government in this vital area, which I know is important for so many households in our city.”
