Cancer support organisation Chai is concerned by a drop in new clients with a recent cancer diagnosis.

Chief executive Lisa Steele said the charity would normally expect to receive 10 new callers each week from those who had just been diagnosed. But since the pandemic, the figure has fallen to two or three, suggesting that those with possible symptoms were not visiting their GPs.

“They’re frightened to go out so are leaving symptoms undiagnosed.”

She urged people “to get checked out if you’re concerned about anything”.

By contrast, existing clients were relying on Chai more than ever because of the pressures of isolation and anxiety about their condition.

“We have been supporting them a lot more than we were before because a lot of their treatment has been put on hold — their chemotherapy might have stopped or their scans have been put back a few months.

“They’re left very worried and isolated. We’re picking up a lot of that with our counselling,” Ms Steele reported.

“With a cancer diagnosis, you can feel very out of control because life as you knew it before has been taken away.” The same could be said about the lockdown “so for a cancer patient it’s a double whammy”.

Chai currently offers its services for patients and their families over the phone or via Skype or Zoom. As well as counselling, there is meditation and yoga.“We’re also doing one-on-one exercise, which helps to empower [clients] that they’re doing something for themselves.”

It can call on some 90 counsellors and therapists and Ms Steele pointed out that “although we’re not medical, our counsellors are very experienced in dealing with trauma and grief.

“To have a shivah or a funeral with no one there can be very hard.”