Hundreds of breast cancer cases may have been missed

Breast cancer screening was paused in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic

Hundreds of breast cancer cases may have been missed as screenings were paused during the pandemic, official figures suggest.

Public Health Scotland data showed the number of people diagnosed with breast cancer fell by 15.6% between 2019 and 2020.

The Scottish government said cancer services were a priority in its NHS recovery plans.

A total of 4,235 people were diagnosed in 2020 when screenings were paused.

This was a decrease of 15.6% from the 5,021 cases identified in 2019 and a fall of 18.6% compared to the 5,206 cases in 2018.

In Scotland in 2020, the target was met for eight of the 16 quality performance indicators, including three which were met for the first time in 2020.

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A Scottish government spokesperson said overall breast cancer services across Scotland were meeting targets in many areas of care.

They added: "It is particularly encouraging to see that several indicators achieved the target for the first time in 2020.

"However, some challenges remain, particularly around some of the targets which have proved challenging to achieve consistently over the three years."

The spokesperson added that the figures had been impacted by the pandemic.

Cancer services a priority

They continued: "While cancer has remained a priority throughout the pandemic, individual treatment plans may have changed in order to minimise their individual risk to Covid-19.

"This was only ever done where the change in treatment was deemed safe and was done in discussion with the patient.

"This could have an impact on some of the [targets] which were not met."

They added that the NHS remained under pressure as a result of Covid, but that the government would continue to prioritise cancer services and its NHS recovery plan.

They added that the Scottish government had already increased support for cancer services across the NHS.