Establishing the impact of lockdown

Shocking figures emerged yesterday that suggest at least 100,000 patients have seen cancer spread or progress because of treatment delays. Macmillan Cancer Support said lives were at risk because of a “shameful” failure to deliver NHS care in time. They pointed to a lack of investment and staff shortages in cancer services.

It is extraordinary that seemingly any problem in the NHS is put down to money and rarely to other shortcomings or its very structure. Surgeons will often lament the absence of staff for operations not because of budgets but a failure properly to plan rotas. Arguably, a key driver in the late diagnosis of cancer is that the health service was declared off limits during the pandemic. Why don’t medical charities condemn the impact of locking down the country for years?

In many ways, lockdowns have become almost Holy Writ, as though they were obviously the right approach to take. It was good to hear this assumption challenged at the Covid-19 inquiry by George Osborne, the former chancellor. Asked why the Treasury had not planned for lockdowns, he pointed out that no country had and wondered whether they would have happened at all had it not been for China’s decision to shut down economic and social activity.

We trust that the inquiry will pursue this particular avenue of investigation because the difficulties people faced getting treatment or a diagnosis during the pandemic have clearly had a major impact on the lives of many.

If it is argued that lockdowns were necessary to protect the NHS from being overwhelmed, we should ask why it was so ill prepared and who was responsible within the service itself. Why should the NHS management be immune from criticism and all the brickbats thrown at the politicians who do not have day-to-day control?

Amanda Pritchard, the NHS chief executive, has hardly been seen in public while much of this crisis has unfolded before our eyes. At least Andrew Bailey, the Bank of England governor, puts himself forward to face questioning about the growing interest rate calamity. Yet, however poor the Bank’s record in controlling inflation or the NHS’s failure to treat cancer patients, both carry on in their jobs. To whom are they accountable?