Trust may reduce or delay chemotherapy because of staff shortages

An Oxford hospital has said that it may reduce or delay courses of chemotherapy because it is struggling to recruit specialist nurses.

Andrew Weaver, head of chemotherapy at the Churchill Hospital, was reported by the Times newspaper to have emailed colleagues to outline proposals for the future of chemotherapy at the hospital.

“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,” said the memo, quoted in the Times report on 10 January.

Weaver warned that the current level of chemotherapy care was “unsustainable” given the limited number of staff, …