Topics on primary care, cancer and inequality

Abstract: “Cancer is such a prevalent set of conditions and so costly, it magnifies what we know to be true about the totality of the health care system. It exposes all its strengths and weaknesses.” (Levit et al., 2014). During the lockdowns brought about by the pandemic we saw a greater reduction in urgent cancer referrals and newly diagnosed cancer for people living in poorer areas. At the same time, the reduction in access to care was smaller for people in poorer areas (the opposite). This perplexing outcome implies that there are deeper inequalities, not just access to care, but also in the content of consultations. 

Not only did the lockdowns worsen existing inequalities in cancer outcomes but has also exposed the wider challenges facing primary care, of which there are many. In this seminar I will discuss the pervasive inequalities in cancer outcomes, how those outcomes were affected by the pandemic, measuring and understanding health inequalities using primary care data, and how further analysis of cancer inequality illuminate the role of the NHS in correcting health inequalities.