The breast cancer crisis is a symptom of deeper problems in the NHS

Editorial: A shortage of specialist doctors and nurses means dangerous delays for thousands

Every apparent turning point in the NHS crisis has been eclipsed by new signs that its problems are deep-seated (PA Wire)

Our report of the alarming state of breast cancer care in the UK is only the latest symptom of a deep malaise in the National Health Service. Every assumption that lay behind the government’s injunction during the coronavirus pandemic to “protect the NHS” seems now to have been unfounded.

It was assumed then that if we could prevent the health service from being “overwhelmed” by the surge in Covid cases, it would be able to manage the crisis and return to normal thereafter. This evolved into the assumption that the pandemic would generate a backlog of cases but that NHS activity could be stepped up and the backlog cleared within a few years.

That assumption is now giving way to the realisation that it will take much longer, and will cost much more, to get the waiting list under control. The list has continued to grow and is now heading towards 8 million cases in England, representing about 6.5 million individuals – more than one in 10 of the population. The rate of the rise has slowed over the past year, and Victoria Atkins, the new health secretary, hailed the most recent figures showing a statistically insignificant fall as if they marked a turning point.