NHS strikes: Some chemo appointments have been delayed due to lack of nurses despite rules exempting them

The admission of cancer patients, including chemotherapy, for some patients in England was suspended or delayed during the latest nurses’ strike, despite unions’ promises that the strikes would not affect treatment.

This raises the possibility that some cancer patients may get sick again when NHS workers leave home on Monday and Tuesday.

Royal College of Nursing (RCN) nurses at 73 NHS trusts in England will go on strike – more trusts than during previous RCN strikes in December and January, when 44 and 55 trusts respectively were dissolved.

In early December, the RCN wrote to NHS bosses that chemotherapy was one of the services completely exempt from the strike.

But NHS England admitted that meetings with cancer patients were disrupted by strikes as a “last resort”.

“The vast majority of cancers were not affected by the strike, with local health services rescheduling visits to cancer patients only on strike days, solely as a last resort when all other options have been exhausted and any affected appointment is prioritized for immediate reprieve.” the message says. the spokesman said.

“During a strike, it is important that patients call at prearranged times, unless they have been contacted to reschedule.”

This has been confirmed by Lancashire Hospital. I that some of his chemotherapy appointments were delayed due to the January 18-19 strike last month, although he did not provide figures.

A spokesman for the Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: “There were limited disruptions to chemotherapy treatment, but any delays were planned and implemented in a timely manner within the required treatment window.”

The spokesperson also said it was difficult to predict the impact on future chemotherapy appointments during this week’s strikes.

“The foundation has procedures in place for planning union action, but RCN colleagues should not report this until days have passed and strikes may start in unusual areas,” the spokesman said.

A cancer nurse who works at a London hospital and spoke on condition of anonymity also shared this story. I Some visits to cancer patients were canceled and rescheduled during last month’s strike.

“Some chemo or cancer treatments have been rescheduled to other days to accommodate the strike. It’s like the holidays,” the nurse said.

She added: “I was very confused when the RCN, and therefore the news, reported that cancer services had not been affected, but that many cancer nurses had gone on strike, which they could go on.”

The nurse said that such appointments could be canceled on non-strike days due to the condition of the patients, but some were rescheduled specifically due to union action at her hospital.

When approaching IThe London Hospital insisted that all chemotherapy and oncology appointments during the strike went through as planned.

The RCN union website states that chemotherapy is a treatment that also includes dialysis and resuscitation and should be completely excluded from the strike.

The London nurse said the RCN and hospitals need to be more open, despite the union’s promise to reschedule some chemotherapy sessions.

She said the instructions from the hospitals and the union to organize work on the day of the strike should be clearer.

However, she said that the treatment on the day of the strike when she was working was “no worse than a normal day in our department.”

“I would say that usually we are at the limit,” she said.

The nurse herself said she couldn’t go on strike because she didn’t want patients to receive “substandard care,” but said conditions were regularly “unsustainable” and she understands why her colleagues are on strike.

“It’s a conflict in general when you know that the people who will get hurt are other striking nurses and patients,” she said.

I contacted hospitals across England with staff involved in the January strike to see if chemo appointments had been disrupted.

Of the hospitals that responded, Dorset Healthcare Foundation Trust, Tameside and Glossop NHS Foundation Trust, University Hospitals Dorset, Kings College NHS Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said none of their chemotherapy services were disrupted by strikes . .

University College London Hospital, Christie’s Hospital, Lancashire Teaching Hospital and Morecambe Bay University Hospital asked I send a Wbb request for a certain number of pending appointments. Other hospitals, including Durham and Darlington County NHS Trust, West Suffolk NHS Trust and Sheffield Teaching Hospital did not respond. Iwith please.

The latest figures show that hospitals in England have canceled about 88,000 appointments. as a result of strikes by nurses and paramedics over the past seven weeks.

An NHS Providers spokesperson who released the data said the organization does not have the number of chemotherapy prescriptions that were affected by the strike.

An NHS England spokesperson said: I he had no record of chemotherapy prescriptions during the strike.

Brian Morton, RCN Associate Director of Industrial Relations, said: “When a shift is delayed, it is the employer’s responsibility to plan and deliver their services. Every day of the year, meetings are canceled or postponed due to lack of staff.”

Mr Morton said each nurse felt a “great responsibility” to ensure that life-saving care continued.

“However, patients are already at high risk as the nursing crisis continues. Our exemption list shows how serious we are about our obligations and our strike committees are working closely with NHS employers to ensure that vital assistance continues,” he said.

“The guardians are not serious about this measure, but the prime minister prefers strikes to negotiations. They can end this at any time by negotiating care allowance.”