Emergency presentations of head and neck cancer: Our experience in the wake of the COVID‐19 pandemic

Wilkie, Mark D.; Gaskell, Peter; Hall, Benjamin; Jones, Terence M.; Kinshuck, Andrew J.

The COVID-19 pandemic imposed dramatic changes on delivery of medical services, leading to significant reductions in urgent referrals for suspected cancer. A resultant surge in patients presenting with advanced disease, potentially in an emergency context, has been anticipated but, until now, no real-world data have been disseminated. Herein, we report a dramatic surge in new and newly recurrent HNCs presenting with advanced disease in an emergency context in the period immediately following the COVID-19-induced UK national lockdown. To minimise adverse outcomes HNC services should prepare for a fluctuant but ongoing increase in such presentations, with expansion and streamlining of secondary healthcare capacity, together with accurate public health messaging tailored towards patients and primary care. These data are likely to have lasting significance and will help inform practice and healthcare policy during and following any future COVID-19 outbreaks.