Nurse shortage causes UK hospital to stop chemotherapy
A major hospital in Britain has decided to drop one of the most critical treatments for cancer patients over scarcity of nurses in the facility.
The Cedar Centre at King George hospital in London said Saturday that it will no longer provide chemotherapy because its unit is severely understaffed it case of specialist cancer nurses.
The hospital said chemotherapy will be stopped as of November 12 because the hospital had failed to replace four of its nurses who have quit and two others who have gone on maternity leave.
The King George hospital is one of the biggest trusts operating for the National Health Services, or the NHS, which is the dominant health provider in Britain. The failure of the hospital to hire nurses and other medical staff would mean that that the NHS is in a real understaffing crisis as a result of years of government cuts to health budgets.
The opposition Labour Party has repeatedly criticized spending cuts in social care and health sectors, saying they have caused many to loss access to even basic services. The Conservative-led government, however, denies cuts have had any impacts on provision of services, saying understaffing in NHS and other organizations is mostly due to the departure of foreign staffs that leave the United Kingdom as the country plans withdraw from the European Union in March.
The Guardian newspaper said that the imminent halt of chemotherapy in King George hospital is believed to be the first time in Britain that a specialist cancer unit is no longer able to offer a vital service to patient due to understaffing. More than 500 patients received cancer treatment in Cedar Centre each year, said the newspaper.
Other reports have indicated that NHS England alone has some 42,000 nurse vacancies at the current time without the ability to recruit new staff.
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