"There was a major reallocation of resources to deal with the acute needs of very sick patients coming in, in many cases needing intensive care," he said."Patients themselves had a very understandable level of fear about coming to hospital.
"I suspected many patients that normally would take note of a symptom - perhaps a bit of blood on the toilet paper, or a lump place, pain or a cough - might have been somewhat delayed coming in for that".Prof Crowne said there was also"the fear of coming into a health system that was creaking a bit - certainly in that first year - under the rigours of COVID, and the real risk of getting sick from being in hospital."He said what was done at the time was the right decision.
"We can't know how many cancer patients would have died if we continued doing business as usual," he said. "People came into hospitals that, at the time, were full of sick patients, unvaccinated patients, sick staff members - we didn't even understand what the incubation period of the virus was."I think far more cancer patients would have been very ill," he added.
Main image: File photo shows doctors studying CT and MRI scans. Picture by: Phanie / Alamy Stock Photo
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Source: NewstalkFM - 🏆 19. / 55 Read more »