Daily Express - 02.09.2019

(C. Jardin) #1

8 Daily Express Monday, September 2, 2019


DX1ST

By Hanna Geissler
Health Reporter

Urgent


Cancer patients ‘failed’


TOO few NHS staff meant that
115,000 cancer patients were diag-
nosed late, a charity has warned.
Failing to recruit enough doctors
and nurses is undermining govern-
ment plans to catch the disease early,
Cancer Research UK has said.
Almost half of all cancers diag-
nosed when the disease was at a
known “stage” were found when the
chances of survival were lower,
according to figures from 2017.
It is thought the real figure could
be even higher as a fifth of cancer
patients had no record of the stage at
which their cancer was found.
Emma Greenwood, Cancer Res-
earch UK’s director of policy, said:
“It’s unacceptable that so many
people are diagnosed late.
“Although survival has improved,
it’s not happening fast enough. More
referrals to hospital means we
urgently need more staff.
“The Government’s inaction on
staff shortages is crippling the NHS,
failing cancer patients and the doctors
and nurses who are working tirelessly
to diagnose and treat them.”
Often, an early diagnosis can be the
difference between life and death.

Nine in 10 people diagnosed with
bowel cancer survive for at least five
years when diagnosed at the earliest
stage, but this drops to just one in 10
if diagnosed at the latest stage.
The charity told how more people
are being referred for urgent tests in
a bid to catch cancer earlier but this
has heaped pressure on staff at the
NHS, where one in 10 positions is
currently vacant.
Ms Greenwood said: “By 2035,
one person every minute will be
diagnosed with cancer but there’s no
plan to increase the number of NHS
staff to cope with demand now, or the
growing numbers in the future.
“Saving lives from cancer needs to
be top of the agenda for the new
Government and it must commit to
investing in vital NHS staff now to
ensure no one dies from cancer
unnecessarily.”
Last year, the Government pledged
to diagnose three in four cancer
patients at an early stage by 2028.
But to reach that target, Cancer
Research UK estimates an extra
100,000 patients would need
to be diagnosed each year.
Dr Giles Maskell, the charity’s radi-
ology expert, said NHS staff will not
be able to deal with the rising number
of cancer patients unless more

specialists are trained. He said: “We
can feel the bottleneck tightening in
the NHS – the pressure is mounting
on diagnostic staff.
“We don’t have nearly enough
radiologists in the UK and far too
many patients are waiting too long
for scans and results.”
Other factors driving late diagnosis
include symptoms being hard to spot,
GPs having too little time to investi-
gate people thoroughly, low uptake of
screening programmes or the cancer
being advanced when detected.

Saffron Cordery, deputy chief execu-
tive of NHS Providers, admitted the
staff shortage was “severe”.
She said: “The NHS is committed
to improving cancer care and out-
comes as part of its long-term plan.
“But to do this, we must see invest-
ment in education and training to
make sure we are safeguarding these
skills within the service.
“We also need to see more capital
investment in the equipment needed
to both diagnose and treat cancer.”
A Department of Health and Social

Sisters both


have fibrosis


... but only one


gets the pills


influenza infection. On top of
that, our study suggests that it
could also protect against
fatal heart attacks and strokes,
and deaths from other
causes.”
Mr Modin added: “We show
that influenza vaccination may
improve cardiovascular
outcomes in patients with
hypertension.
“During the nine flu seasons
we studied, vaccine coverage
ranged from 26 per cent to 36
per cent, meaning that many
patients with high blood
pressure were not vaccinated.
“If you have high blood
pressure, it would be worth
discussing vaccination with
your doctor.”
Explaining the results, he
added: “Heart attacks and
strokes are caused by the
rupture of atherosclerotic
plaques in the arteries leading
to the heart or the brain.
“After a rupture, a blood
clot forms and cuts off the
blood supply.
“It is thought that the high
levels of acute inflammation
induced by influenza infection
reduce the stability of plaques
and make them more likely to
rupture.”
The study used Danish
nationwide healthcare
registers.
The findings were presented
at the European Society of
Cardiology congress in Paris.

Flu jab can cut


heart danger if


you have high


blood pressure


PEOPLE with high blood
pressure could cut their risk of
a premature death by a fifth if
they have a flu jab, a study
reveals.
The vaccination can protect
hypertension patients from
deadly heart attacks and
strokes during the flu season,
as well as “deaths from other
causes”, it was said.
Scientists have now urged
anyone with high blood
pressure to get an annual
flu jab.
The flu virus triggers a
strong immune reaction and
subsequent inflammation
when it infects the body,
experts claim.
By getting vaccinated and
dodging the flu, patients with
high blood pressure avoid this
potentially lethal reaction.
Researchers from the
University of Copenhagen, in
Denmark, looked at more than
600,000 patients aged 18 to
100 with hypertension during
nine consecutive influenza
seasons, from 2007 to 2016.
The team recorded how
many patients had the flu jab
before each season and then
followed them over each
season to track how many
died.
They then listed deaths from
all causes, including heart
attack and stroke.
Finally, the scientists
analysed the link between
being jabbed before the flu
season and the risk of death
during it.
In a flu season, those who
were vaccinated were 18 per
cent less likely to die from
any other cause.
When it came to death from
cardiovascular causes, patients
were 16 per cent less likely to
die and faced a 10 per cent
reduced risk of death from
heart attack or stroke.
Study author Daniel Modin,
a research associate at the
University of Copenhagen,
said: “Given these results, it is
my belief that all patients with
high blood pressure should
have an annual flu vaccination.
“Vaccination is safe, cheap,
readily available and decreases

Flu jabs can have huge impact

By Gregory Kirby

Couch potatoes’ death risk


Study: Dr Trine Moholdt

BEING a couch potato for two decades
could double your risk of dying young,
a study revealed yesterday.
Researchers questioned 23,
people about their physical activity
in 1984-86 and again in 2006-8.
People who were consistently inactive
for 22 years were twice as likely to die
early compared to those who reported
high levels of activity, defined as two or
more hours per week, and almost three
times more likely to die of heart disease.
Study author Dr Trine Moholdt of the
Norwegian University of Science and

Technology said: “Our findings imply
that to get the maximum health benefits
of physical activity in terms of
protection against premature all-cause
and cardiovascular death, you need to
continue being physically active.”
She recommended 150 minutes of
moderate exercise a week or 75 minutes
of vigorous activity. She added: “I
recommend everyone to get out of breath
at least a couple of times each week.”
The findings were presented at the
European Society of Cardiology
Congress in Paris.
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