There is rarely a good time or place to explain to a patient that they have an untreatable cancer. Three a.m. in a side room of a busy emergency department is certainly not it. But for this patient, whose life would be radically changed, and eventually cut short, by her diagnosis, the misery was compounded by a further question: ‘If I’d had it checked out sooner, could they have treated it?’

Sarah (not her real name) had put off seeking help during the early days of the pandemic, recognising the severe pressure the health system was under at the time. She