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Staff shortages 'putting cancer patients at risk'

Date published: 13/01/2006

Staff shortages in many radiotherapy departments are placing cancer patients at risk, according to a study of British hospitals. Published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), the research claims that many UK hospitals are heavily overstretched, with long waiting lists for patients in need of treatment.

The report's authors warn that long waits for treatment as a result of the shortages could be jeopardising treatment for patients. Studies have indicated that delaying treatment hampers doctors' ability to tackle the disease. Waiting lists in Britain are so severe in many radiotherapy departments that they are often less able to cope with the volume of patients than other developed countries and some poorer countries, according to the paper.

Despite increased government investment in radiotherapy equipment, there is a chronic shortage of specialist staff that means hospitals are unable to cope with rising demand for treatment. More training places are being created, but this fails to address the current crisis. Doctors and radiotherapy managers are being forced to adapt staff rotas, transfer patients and, in some cases, prioritise patients for treatment. Radiotherapy treatment can be as successful at tackling some cancers as radical surgery, while also preserving organs.

Although radiotherapy services in the UK offer high quality treatment, the researchers warns that a longer waiting time for radiotherapy reduces the chance of the patient's survival with some cancers, such as cervical cancer. Patients waiting more than six weeks for post-operative radiotherapy to treat head and neck cancer are three times as likely to have the cancer recur, while breast cancer patients have a 60 per cent greater risk of the disease returning if the delay between surgery and radiotherapy goes beyond eight weeks.

The report concludes: "The time has come to agree a national policy to tackle these issues, say the authors, a strategy not subject to political timetables or funding waves. Avoidance of such a discussion is no longer an option."

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