Matt Hancock, what is your opinion of his Cancer treatment speech? *edited by MNHQ at OP's request*

[GalaxyCookieCrumble]

Is anyone else as angry as me right now over what that absolute to&&er has just said regarding cancer patients ? I'm actually scared of what is unfolding. He is truly evil.

It’s shit, but if the more likely Covid gets out of control, the less able the NHS is able to cope. He’s stating facts. I’m no fan of the Government, but stating that doesn’t make him “evil”.

That’s a lot of hate for someone that doesn’t or cannot control the situation. I get it’s sad but fucking hell, grow up a bit, no one really knows what to do right now and what would you rather? Treatment to then die from Covid or holding off until it’s safe? If you have such a great idea and you must because you’re slagging him off, then please do share it with those that can put it into action.

@Lilybet1980

I don’t think it’s reasonable to assume that the nhs should be resourced constantly to be able to cope with a pandemic. That would not make sense at all and would lead to a lot of wasted resources. What it should be able to do is respond quickly (which it partly did with the nightingale hospitals).

There are certainly things the government could do better and there’s no doubt they have cut the nhs to the bare bones, but there is no way that services would not have been impacted to some extent anyway.

Why not? Look at Germany and how they coped. That was because the system as a whole as more capacity. More capacity for hospitals, test and trace, PPE. Routine treatment there resumed long time ago. GPs haven been open for the normal folks for ages now, when the UK is still telephone only unless the GP thinks you need to be seen.

You Brits need to wake up. The NHS is not world class. Its the third world system of Europe.

And yes, I do think the health system should have some capacity to deal with the unforeseen, aging population and what not.

What is it you think he’s saying OP? “We could treat all cancer patients even with Covid running wild but we’ll decide not to, just to punish you”?

People who are banging on about schools being fully open with no mitigations regardless of the amount of Covid in the community are signing up for the NHS to not be able to treat cancer patients. It’s a balancing act. If we have masks or part time school then maybe we stand a chance of the hospitals not being overwhelmed. Ploughing on as we are when most transmission is in schools is absurd.

Blimey for once a serving cabinet member actually tells the truth that he can’t guarantee other Nhs treatments won’t be affected and he’s slated for being evil. No wonder they lie so much!

I think the real mistake was not to get cancer services up and running quickly enough when things were quiet over the summer.

@ThroughThickAndThin01

Well yes, NHS years of cuts etc, but that’s not Matt Hancock’s fault.

Isn’t it? I thought he was health minister. Perhaps I’m wrong.

And the NHS has been crap for a long time. People cling onto it but it is a massive money pit with huge and unnecessary expenses. It should have been taken in hand a long time ago but it wasn’t as people want it to stay the same as it’s always been. And now look where we are.

I think he is trying to increase compliance with the rules, by making people realise that if we “let COVID rip” then more people will die as the nhs will be overwhelmed. I don’t see that as evil.

I'm confused why this makes him evil. Surely he is trying to warn us? It is not possible for the NHS to keep on top of it. We can control how many people get covid. If we don't give a fuck then cancer patients will miss out. It's obvious.

don’t have their flu jabs, the health service will suffer. Resources are finite

Yep, like the flu jab resources being finite, and not available to loads of people, and held by the gov instead of being released to GPs etc and so on. This government are incompetant, and personally I believe that their politics are verging on evil.

My suggestion is to leave the non mask wearers and people refusing to social distance to die of covid instead 🤷‍♀️ but I think that's seen as evil too.

obviously dont actually want anyone to die, but you get my point

VinylDetective Of course we know he’s the recent Health Minister. How does that affect the austerity years?

Nhs treatment is already affected. My consultant says they are not doing tests or appointments until at least spring next year. The Gp will not see anyone unless pass a triage system ... I have to hang around all day tomorrow for a phone triage as COVID-19 means the Gp’s are somehow unable to have a booked phone call slot.
So I dread to think what it is like in hospitals right now.

@Newjez

If the NHS is overloaded, it stands to reason that other services will suffer. That's not Hancock's fault. It's the fault of the sanctimonious wankers who don't take the virus seriously.

It’s not the fault of these ‘sanctimonious wankers’ really It’s the fault of concesutive governments not listening when scientists were telling them that a pandemic like this is a national security threat. That is the criminal negligence that will now result in deaths of thousands and thousands of untreated patients. How many British citizens have died as a result of threats from Alqaeda or ISIS or all other terrorist organisations combined? Yeah, that is your answer right there. It’s not even a conspiracy. Unfortunately, it’s good old incompetence, a far more dangerous thing for any country than terrorism.

We can only keep 'clean' hospitals if Covid numbers do not rise too far.

I thought that was stating the obvious

Cancer screening did resume in my Trust over the summer - I think it's another manifestation of the postcode lottery, with an overlay of how Covid services are doing

Hancock is a little prick who thrives on power, he makes Jeremy Hunt look brilliant. He is out of his depth.

Did anyone see his response to a perfectly reasoned question about testing, and he said he won't have such decisive language when it was a question.

I’m no Hancock fan but I understand what he’s saying, he’s urging people to be careful or we may overwhelm the NHS and vital services won’t be able to function. He’s actually being truthful for once, cancer patients will suffer and have been suffering since covid.

For those of you who think it’s ok - why does covid trump cancer? I find this remarkable.

I am horrified by what he said but also not surprised.

I can't see anything wrong in what he said (in this instance)

@Calledyoulastnightfromglasgow

For those of you who think it’s ok - why does covid trump cancer? I find this remarkable.

I am horrified by what he said but also not surprised.

It’s not that Covid ‘trumps’ cancer Are people really this stupid! Would you want to go into hospital to have your immune system wiped out with chemo when the hospital is full of Covid? Honestly, just use your common sense. Hospitals being full of Covid makes routine treatment more dangerous for everyone.

We’re now seeing almost 500 covid patients admitted to hospitals - every day - in England. At the start of September that was 50 a day. The numbers are going up very fast now.

As pp said, resources are finite. The NHS barely copes during a normal flu season,

Covid patients are in dire need, cancer patients can usually last a bit longer. And the Covid patient sometimes has more chance of survival with the right treatment. Sorry to be brutal but pussyfooting around is getting us nowhere - would you want to be told go away and suffocate/ drown as your lungs become full of infection so we can treat this cancer patient?

What do you mean, covid trumping cancer? If someone presents themselves to the hospital unable to breathe they will be prioritized for treatment, whether they have asthma, covid or cancer. Unless you intend to leave patients gasping on the doorstep?