Local journalist Gary Burgess, who was given a terminal-cancer diagnosis last year, has spoken out as figures released by Health and Community Services show that cancer screenings in Jersey plummeted last year as a result of the pandemic.
Mr Burgess urged anyone who was worried that they might have developed a type of cancer to ‘make the call today’ to ensure that they were on the radar of the medical profession as soon as possible.
‘I would say to anyone who understandably may think that they are doing the right thing out of kindness that hanging fire is not the thing to do. If you have noticed a niggle or a lump, please arrange to get yourself screened as soon as possible. The best thing you can do is to make that call to your GP today and not wait another day,’ Mr Burgess said.
His comments were echoed by Dr Matt Doyle of the Jersey Primary Care Body – which represents the Island’s GPs – who urged anyone who may have missed a diagnostic appointment to arrange a catch-up session. ‘We would encourage everyone to have a cancer screening appointment, if they can,’ he said.
Figures released by the government show that screenings for cervical, breast and bowel cancer all fell last year, with breast cancer checks down by 2,032 on 2019 – 2,958 women had checks last year, compared to almost 5,000 the year before.
Meanwhile, bowel cancer screenings were down by more than half, with 592 Islanders having checks in 2019 compared with 270 in 2020 – and cervical cancer screenings fell from 7,216 to 5,490.
The impact of the pandemic could exacerbate a projected increase in cancer cases already forecast by the government’s central statistics unit, Statistics Jersey, which has warned of a possible 40% rise by 2037. In a 2018 report, it is stated that the number of new cases diagnosed were forecast to rise to almost 1,000 a year, based on cancer rates at the time and projected population increases.
In England, Cancer Research UK raised concerns last month about the impact of pausing breast cancer screenings after NHS England data showed that 38,000 fewer cancer patients began treatment for breast cancer between April 2020 and March this year, compared with the same period 12 months previously.
Health Minister Richard Renouf has said that a new home testing method for bowel cancer is due to be launched in autumn to help reduce the backlog that Covid has created, the result both of reduced capacity and some patients declining checks.
In a response to a written States question from Deputy Trevor Pointon, he said: ‘As we emerged from the first wave of Covid-19, screening endoscopy sessions recommenced but at a lesser capacity due to impact of infection control measures to reduce transmission of Covid-19 and the required time therefore in between patients.’
Capacity had been added as part of a ‘Covid-19 recovery bid’, according to the minister, which would ‘support access to both symptomatic and screening appointments in 2021’.
A new model of bowel screening – which is in place already in Guernsey and the UK – will allow a less invasive home test, he said, adding that this ‘should ultimately support a wider uptake of bowel screening by the public’.
The minister said the government was taking part in awareness campaigns regarding cancer and had submitted a business case to the Treasury Department for funding to increase its normal screening capacity.
Breast cancer was the third most common cancer in the Island, according to figures published last year by Public Health England’s National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service, after non-melanoma skin cancer and prostate cancer.
Bowel cancer screening is offered to men and women in Jersey when they turn 60. Cervical screening is for women aged 25 to 64, with Islanders recommended to attend every three years from the age of 25.
Breast screening is offered to women in Jersey aged between 50 and 69.
