With the current COVID-19 pandemic, the NHS is under severe strain. To manage the crisis all routine operations have been cancelled in many hospitals and the treatment of cancers put on hold. Some patients will have non-standard treatments that may be known to be inferior or not proven so that some form of treatment can be started or to delay the need for surgery. While this is understandable, non-standard treatments and delays to the treatment of cancer can and will adversely affect outcomes. Depending on how long treatment is delayed patients will have lower chances of cure and some will become incurable because of the delay.  

This website has been produced by The British Association of Surgical Oncology to collect data on these delays and ventures into non-standard pathways and to produce weekly reports to highlight the plight of cancer surgery. In the weeks and months that come, unpalatable decisions will have to be made about prioritising the provision of healthcare. Without adequate knowledge of what the situation is nationally, the community of cancer clinicians may not have the voice to  argue effectively for the restarting of cancer staging and treatment.