Lung and heart disease diagnoses fell by up to HALF during pandemic

Diagnoses of chronic illnesses in England fell by up to half last year in a trend that was partly fuelled by fewer GP appointments during the pandemic, stark official figures revealed today. Coronary heart disease cases were also down 17 per cent, the report found, and strokes fell by 16 per cent The report also found that thousands fewer people were admitted for cancers during 2020, which it warned 'these treatment delays are likely to lead to poorer health outcomes for patients' It found that GP appointments for children under the age of 11 had the most sustained fall. There were 5.45million emergency procedures carried out across all NHS England services in the 12 months to March, down 16 per cent on the 6.5m the previous year The number of patients waiting for routine hospital treatment hit 5.6million in July, the highest figure since records began in 2007. And health chiefs have warned the backlog is going to get much worse before it gets better, with projections that it could soar up to 13million by the end of the year if no action is taken Patients forced to wait more than 18 weeks for routine surgery - the maximum time someone should wait under the NHS's own rules - reached 1.7million in July, the highest level in four months Some 293,000 people had been waiting more than a year for treatment on the NHS by July this year, figures showed. Woman, 27, died from liver cancer after GPs failed to spot tumour for five MONTHS during virtual appointments and refused to see her in-person because of Covid fears Jessica Brady, 27, died from stage-four cancer in December after struggling to get an in-person appointment with her GP during the pandemic The mother of a young woman who died from cancer has told MPs her daughter might still be alive if she was seen by her GP face-to-face.