AS Covid-19 gripped the country and hospitals responded to the crisis, procedures and diagnostics in some medical specialities were put on hold, to try limit the spread of the virus.
Oncology is one example of this. According to data supplied to RTÉ Investigates by St James's Hospital, oncology day-cases at the hospital fell by 16% from the first half of 2019 to the same period this year.For the first six months of 2019, there were 4,496 oncology daycases at St James's, which dropped to 3,768 for the same period this year.
The graph above shows how the pandemic affected the numbers of oncology daycases at St James's. Oncology Daycases There were more oncology daycases – which involves patients receiving chemotherapy –