Coronavirus: doctors warn over lack of screening

A new campaign is urging Australians not to delay check-ups after new data found screening checks for diabetes and cancer have plummeted during the pandemic.

Residents walks past the Royal Melbourne Hospital in July. Picture: David Crosling

The nation’s leading doctor and pathology groups have raised the alarm that healthcare services face being overwhelmed in coming years as people who have ­delayed vital screening checks due to the coronavirus pandemic present for treatment.

Over 30 major healthcare ­organisations have banded together to launch a campaign urging Australians not to delay visiting their doctor, with figures revealing that screening checks for diabetes and common cancers have plummeted in recent months.

The Continuity of Care Collaboration, an organisation made up of 30 peak medical bodies, ­industry groups and healthcare organisations, has surveyed ­patients and identified the most common reasons that people have avoided seeing their doctor.

The group analysed the case records of a major private pathology laboratory, which is representative of national trends, and found that in April, diabetes testing rates fell 54 per cent compared to the weekly average from the month before the COVID-19 pandemic hit Australia. Cervical cancer screening rates were down by 67 per cent, tests for prostate cancer fell 56 per cent and other cancer-related tests dropped by as much as 60 per cent.

A survey conducted by the Continuity of Care Collaboration found that almost 60 per cent of respondents had delayed health checks due to fear of catching COVID-19.

More than one in three were worried that health services would be too busy to see them, and 23 per cent thought they would be breaking the rules to leave their homes to receive healthcare.

Medicare statistics reveal the number of patients presenting to see a GP face-to-face has fallen by 25 per cent. And while telehealth services have increased, many ­patients are still missing out on vital health checks, according to the chair of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners Victoria, Cameron Loy.

“The potential risk here is that these conditions don’t get looked after, and that increases people’s risk of having problems,” Dr Loy said. “But also we’re most likely facing a point in time where everything that has been delayed appears. Those cancers are most likely still out there in the community, we’re just yet to find them. And once we find them they’ll have to enter the system to be looked after.

“So there will be an increased load on the healthcare system. That’s why it’s so important to come in now and get seen now.”

The Continuity of Care Collaboration is launching a campaign called Don’t Wait Mate to encourage people to see their doctor promptly and obtain screening checks.

John Crothers, the chair of Pathology Awareness Australia, said it had become clear from early on in the pandemic that blood tests and screening checks were reducing markedly.

“We’re genuinely concerned about the collateral damage that the COVID-19 pandemic is causing,” Mr Crothers said.

“This call to action needs to happen. At the end of the day, pathology is as much around prevention as it is diagnosis. It’s not like these patients just disappear. The underlying condition doesn’t just resolve, it’s going to be pushed back to a later date and the consequences for a patient’s health may be greater.”

Professor of health economics at the University of Melbourne, Yuting Zhang, said Medicare data revealed a rise in telehealth consultations, but many were shorter than face-to-face services. “

Level B consultations of less than 20 minutes have gone up 7 per cent compared to last year,” she said.