Nurse shortage ‘delays treatment for 21% of UK cancer patients’ | cancer

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A report has revealed that more than 600,000 cancer patients in the UK face treatment delays or lose vital support due to a shortage of specialist nurses.

One in five of all people with cancer (21%) lack dedicated support. The NHS has a “shocking” shortage of 3,000 specialist nurses in England alone, according to an analysis by Macmillan Cancer Support.

As a result, cancer patients struggle with medication, cancel hospital appointments due to insufficient staffing or suffer devastating delays in chemotherapy. In some cases, patients end up in A&E.

Patricia Marques, director of the Royal College of Nursing in England, has warned that the workforce crisis is having a “devastating effect” on people with cancer. “Experiences that have accumulated over many years are being lost very quickly and it is patients who pay the price, as this report shows,” she added.

Experts warn that the problem will worsen significantly during the pandemic. The number lacking the support of a cancer nurse specialist has risen to one in four of those diagnosed in the past two years – including at least 75,000 diagnosed since the start of the pandemic.

“The coronavirus continues to deliver a devastating blow to cancer care that was already depleted before the pandemic,” said Linda Thomas, CEO of Macmillan. “Quality care is a lifeline, not a luxury, and understaffing means exhausted nurses are struggling to provide vital care in deteriorating conditions.”

The new research reveals that nearly half (44%) of patients diagnosed with cancer in the past two years who lack the support of a specialist nurse have experienced adverse problems as a result.

The charity’s report also found that patients who lacked specialized nursing support were more likely to develop depression or anxiety after being diagnosed with cancer.

Specialized cancer nurses help patients understand the disease by providing advice and emotional support, as well as helping provide treatment. But the analysis found that nearly one in three (31%) of cancer patients in the UK felt nurses were taking care of them with uncontrollable workloads.

Ruth Godfrey was diagnosed with breast cancer in December 2019. Due to the pandemic, she lived alone in Norfolk while receiving treatment. But when she arrived at the hospital for chemotherapy, Godfrey found herself waiting “in a darkened room a nurse didn’t show up” and “she came home annoyed with my head spinning.”

“I felt like I was caught in a huge tidal wave, it was so terrifying,” she added. “The problem is that the nurses are very busy.”

Macmillan is calling for the government to launch a £124m Cancer Nursing Fund to train an additional 3,371 specialist cancer nurses in England in the upcoming comprehensive spending review. This will help ensure that there are enough staff to provide all patients with the quality of care they need and deserve.

“We need to see urgent commitments to address the staggering shortage of cancer pathogens,” Thomas said. “If governments fail to rebuild cancer services, we will all pay the price when we or our families face a cancer diagnosis.”

The Ministry of Health and Social Care has been contacted for comment.

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