COVID-19: Fall in cancer treatment rose following ’rapid’ NHS guidance

The number of patients starting anticancer therapies dropped by more than 30 per cent in April, the month following the UK's first COVID-19 lockdown, but went above pre-pandemic levels within three months, finds a new study of NHS England data co-led by UCL researchers. The analysis, published in  The Lancet Oncology , assessed the number of registrations to initiate systemic anticancer treatment recorded per month in April, May, and June 2020, against the mean number of monthly registrations in the pre-lockdown 'control period' of September 2019 to February 2020. This information is recorded on the NHS England Prior Approval system. For April*, 2,969 registrations were recorded, representing 1,417 fewer registrations than in the control period, a 32% reduction. In May 2020, registrations increased to 3,950, representing a 10% reduction from the control period. However in June 2020, 5,022 registrations were recorded, representing a 15% increase compared with the control period. Researchers say a major part of the return to pre-pandemic cancer treatment levels by June is the result of NHS England's 'COVID-19 rapid guidance: delivery of systemic anticancer treatments'**, approved by the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE).