Scotland achieves Fastest Resumption of Cancer Treatments post UK Lock-Down

A study examining the impact of Covid-19 on the delivery of anti-cancer treatments in Scotland led by Russell Petty, Professor of Medical Oncology at the University of Dundee’s School of Medicine, found that chemotherapy services in Scotland resumed far quicker than in other countries and that the Covid-19 pandemic has led to improved treatments for cancer patients.

Many chemotherapy services were paused in response to fears that the treatment would greatly increase the risk of vulnerable patients contracting the virus. Professor Petty and his colleagues have shown that this activity decreased by almost 29% initially but that chemotherapy treatments had been almost fully restored after a month following service re-design. This compares to nadir figures of 45% and 66% respectively for England and Northern Ireland.

Actions that enabled the recovery of chemotherapy treatment included development of Covid-protected clinical areas for administration; switching patients to alternative chemotherapies requiring less hospital contact and that had less side-effects; expediting the approval of new cancer medicines.

Professor Petty says that these enforced changes might prove to be a rare positive side-effect of the bleakest period in living memory.

“New treatments that clinicians across the country had been gradually introducing to improve cancer chemotherapy were greatly accelerated as a result of the pandemic. Processes that would normally take months or even years took just weeks while the UK Coronavirus Cancer database allowed us to collect data on the safety of treatments for patients.

“Crucially all this activity was undertaken in a co-ordinated way across NHS Scotland, so the recovery was national regardless of how badly or not different regions were affected by Covid-19. These activities have placed us in the best position to sustain treatment during the second wave and in the medium-term, chemotherapy services for patients will have actually improved.”

The reporting method developed by Prof Petty and his colleagues is informing the creation of a national realtime dashboard for chemotherapy activity in Scotland.

Published in the British Journal of Cancer.