Staffing crisis putting cancer patients’ health at risk

A new survey of cancer patients has claimed that their physical and mental health is being negatively impacted by current pressures on the NHS workforce.

Macmillan Cancer Support finds that 68 per cent of people recently diagnosed with or treated for cancer, approximately 300,000 people in the UK, say they are not getting all the support they need with issues related to the disease. Additionally, around one in five people recently diagnosed with or treated for cancer claim that the healthcare professionals who cared for them seemed to have unmanageable workloads.

Launching its #SaveOurSupport campaign, Macmillan Cancer Support has expressed its concern that some patients are afraid to ask for information or support because they are worried about the NHS healthcare professionals looking after them.

Lynda Thomas, Macmillan Cancer Support’s chief executive officer, said: “This problem is so much bigger than the NHS workforce. When someone with cancer is referred onto social care services for help with everyday things washing, getting dressed and preparing and eating meals, they face further difficulty accessing this support because of a lack of staff. The issue now encompasses the entire UK health and care infrastructure and is wreaking havoc with the lives of people living with cancer.

“The NHS and social care staffing crisis is pertinent not only to people living with cancer today, but to anyone diagnosed with cancer in the next, five, ten or twenty years. Governments and health ministers across the UK have a serious responsibility to the future health and wellbeing of our nation so need to address this issue. We’re calling on them to provide fully-funded plans to grow and sustain the health and care workforce without delay.”