Royal Papworth: Attendance for heart attack or suspected lung cancer falls by half

Doctors at Royal Papworth Hospital are concerned that patients with urgent health problems are too anxious to come into hospital.

The Cambridge hospital has said that in the last month, the number of patients attending with a heart attack or being referred for suspected lung cancer has fallen by half.

“In the last few weeks the numbers of patients coming into hospital for emergency cardiology treatment has fallen by around 60 percent,” says Dr David Begley, Divisional Clinical Director for Cardiology at Royal Papworth Hospital.

He added: “There is no reason to suspect that significantly fewer people are having heart attacks, so we can only assume that people are putting off calling for help because they are worried about coming into hospital at this time.”

Royal Papworth Hospital is the country's main heart and lung transplant centre.

Although many planned procedures have been postponed to allow Royal Papworth to treat increasing numbers of patients with Covid-19, its medics are still carrying out all urgent coronary and cardiac device procedures. These range from inserting stents to unblock the heart’s blood supply to fitting pacemakers.

Medics worry that people aren't seeking urgent treatment because of coronavirus fears Credit: ITV Anglia

“It is absolutely vital that patients who need emergency treatment get to hospital as quickly as possible," said Dr Begley. "Calling for help as soon as you have symptoms really could mean the difference between life and death.”

Dr Robert Rintoul, Clinical Lead for Lung Cancer at the hospital, has similar concerns.

“We normally get 40-50 patients with suspected lung cancer referred to us each week, but now we are getting 20-25 patients per week,” he explains.

“We are concerned that patients with symptoms of lung cancer – typically a cough that goes on for 2-3 weeks or more, weight loss or coughing up blood – are sitting at home, too anxious to come into hospital or thinking they might have COVID-19 instead."

Dr Rintoul added that some patients may wrongly think that they won't get cancer treatment while the hospital deals with the pandemic.

Royal Papworth Hospital has insisted that its lung cancer service is still running, with clinical appointments being conducted by phone. More than 45 people having undergone lung cancer surgery at the hospital in the last month, it said.

“Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the incidence of lung cancer remains constant and we expect to see around 37,000 new cases of lung cancer in the UK every year,” said Dr Rintoul. “We are very worried that, if these patients developing lung cancer do not come forward for diagnosis, lung cancer survival rates may go down.”

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