Thread by @collateralglbl

@Telegraph cites NHS officials saying,

"Cancer patients who decided not to seek treatment during lockdown are now overwhelming emergency units"

#CollateralGlobal thinks this is a mischaracterization of the backlog source...

🧵🪡

telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/05/3…

The title of our research is,

"Review of the Impact of COVID-19 First Wave Restrictions on Cancer Care"

And while we do take a global perspective & local conditions varied, it is broadly accurate that *restrictions* caused these barriers to care...

collateralglobal.org/article/review…

"A second systematic review found 38 different categories of delays and/or disruptions that could impact treatment, diagnosis,
or health services"

In other words, it is grossly inaccurate to characterise this as simply a matter of people deciding they did not wish to seek care.

In the Middle East, North Africa, and West Africa, for example:

"...one in four centres restricted new patient access. More than 70% of the participating centres reported shortages in blood products, interruptions to surgery, radiation therapy, and medications shortages."

Changes were noted all over the world, w/ no area spared:

"The evidence in this review comes from a wide
range of countries. We could not identify published
studies that showed little or no change in care."

As for the people who *were* paralyzed by fear of COVID-19,

"One of the potentially most harmful longer-term consequences of the responses over the last year...has been the manipulation of fear to encourage compliance with social distancing measures."

collateralglobal.org/article/the-ef…

We hope you'll listen to former NHS trust chairman, Nick Stokes tell the UK-specific story of how his wife of 46yrs, Joy, couldn't access care during lockdown & how her drs believe she'd be here today if she had.

Blaming patients is inaccurate - at best.
collateralglobal.org/article/the-av…