Cancer patients face treatment cuts and delays due to lack of staff, warns doctor
A leaked memo to staff of an Oxford hospital reportedly suggests cutting chemotherapy cycles for cancer patients from six to four.
Wednesday 10 January 2018 15:54, UK
Cancer patients face possible delays to their treatment at a leading hospital because of a major shortage of specialist nurses, a doctor has warned.
According to a leaked memo to staff at Churchill Hospital in Oxford, seen by The Times, Dr Andrew Weaver also suggested that the number of chemotherapy cycles offered to patients may need to be cut back from six to four.
Dr Weaver, who is head of chemotherapy for Oxford University Hospitals trust, wrote to staff: "Currently we are down approximately 40% on the establishment of nurses on DTU [day treatment unit] and as a consequence we are having to delay chemotherapy patients' starting times to 4 weeks."
He was also reported as writing: "I know that many of us will find it difficult to accept these changes but the bottom line is that the current situation with limited numbers of staff is unsustainable."
Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said there had been no cuts or delays to treatment yet.
In a statement, a spokesman cited the hospital's record in the last three years of meeting the national cancer waiting time standard of starting chemotherapy within 31 days of a clinical decision being made, despite the number of patents increasing by 10-12% each year.
The Trust said: "We have not made any decisions to delay the start of chemotherapy treatment or to reduce the number of cycles of chemotherapy treatment which patients with cancer receive.
"The internal email from Dr Andrew Weaver sets out some of the challenges facing our chemotherapy service, with his ideas for how to tackle these issues, and invites constructive comments and alternative proposals from other cancer doctors and clinical staff.
"However, it does not represent a change to our formal policy for chemotherapy treatment. No such change has been agreed by Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust."
The spokesman said no changes to chemotherapy treatment have been made or will be made before "thorough consideration has been given to all possible options" - and that any changes would also need to comply with national guidance.
He added: "In common with many other NHS organisations, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust faces an ongoing challenge to recruit nursing staff.
"Trustwide initiatives to tackle this challenge include actively recruiting nurses from overseas and working closely with Oxford Brookes University to recruit newly qualified nurses into jobs with Oxford University Hospitals.
"Specific initiatives within our chemotherapy service include weekly shortlisting and interviewing of clinical staff, as well as rapid access to chemotherapy education and training for newly recruited staff."
Paste BN has been told some wards have nursing vacancy rates of up to 48%, and staff believe the shortages have been exacerbated by Brexit.
Nurse recruitment has slowed since the vote to leave the European Union, and staff say significant numbers of European staff have left the Trust.
The claim comes days after Prime Minister Theresa May apologised for delays to thousands of NHS operations and hospital admissions caused by the winter crisis.
When asked about the issue during Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday, she reiterated the Trust's stance that there had been no cuts or delays.
"We are continuing to put the funding in to enable our treatment of cancer," she said, referring to the NHS budget in general.