Minister of Health Magnus Heunicke (S) expresses concern in consultation in the Folketing that at the end of 2020 there was still a reduced activity within screenings for breast cancer.
– The decline in activity is, of course, worrying. Because we know that time is an important factor when it comes to diagnosing cancer, he says.
The minister was called in for consultation on how the health service has handled the cancer area while the corona epidemic has been going on.
The National Board of Health regularly issues a monitoring report on the activity in the health service.
It is in the latest report, which includes hospital activities up to and including week 52 last year, that one can read that there is a lower activity within breast cancer screenings than before the corona epidemic.
– For the indicator breast cancer screening, there is still reduced activity compared to before the epidemic, while screening for cervical cancer has been increased to a level that is comparable to the level before covid-19, the report states.
Later in the report it is stated that the number of referrals to cancer package courses since summer has been at a level from before the epidemic. But in the spring, there were a lower number of referrals to cancer package courses.
In the report, it is described as “very worrying because there may be patients with life-threatening illness who have not approached with possible symptoms.”
A study based on the National Patient Register has previously shown that from March to May there were about 2800 fewer diagnoses of cancer.