NHS leaders have instructed hospitals to continue to perform emergency cancer surgery despite Covid’s pressures, after a growing number of procedures were discontinued because they did not have adequate intensive care beds or available staff.
They have told regional cancer leaders in England to ensure that the treatment of people who need cancer surgery within four weeks is given the same priority as the care of patients with Covid.
The move was announced in a letter, obtained by the Health Service Journal, submitted last Friday by Amanda Pritchard, chief operating officer at NHS England and NHS Development. It was also signed by Cally Palmer, the NHS national cancer director, and Professor Peter Johnson, a renowned expert with the NHS national clinical director for cancer.
They have acted in the wake of dissatisfaction among cancer experts that more and more hospitals, including all in London, have been forced out of emergency activity. Hospitals have felt obliged to do so either because they did not have adequate intensive care beds for patients who may need one after their cancerous procedure or because surgical staff were relocated to care for Covid patients.
Doctors have expressed their recent fears of what the NHS is doing as a “priority two” job. That means they should be done within 28 days to make sure someone with cancer doesn’t see their disease spread or become inoperable because it has been delayed.
More than 1,000 cancer patients in London are now awaiting “priority two” or “P2” emergency surgery, but none have been given a new date for when it will happen, said HSJ. last week.
The NHS chief executive told their website that Pritchard, Palmer and Johnson had given the lead because “NHS England wants to avoid what happened in London and the south-east. rest of the country ”.
The letter tells departmental leaders that they must “ensure that, where local decisions are made to relocate surgery and anesthetic staff, preparation for P1 and P2 cancer surgery is maintained. associated prioritization for patients with Covid. ”
Dr Lisa Harrod-Rothwell, deputy head of London’s Local Medical Committees across the country, which represents GPs in 27 of the capital’s 32 cities, said: “It will come as a relief to the people of London and their GPs that hospitals want to prioritize emergency cancer surgery. . We now need to support the whole of the NHS in London to deliver this.
“It is clear that GPs have relied on the clinical judgment of our colleagues in the hospital over the past few weeks, given all the pressures they face. ”
Anyone with a cancer sign should still see their GP until they are examined, she said.
Sir Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, told the BBC on Sunday that hospitals were “under a lot of pressure” as they treated 75% more of Covid’s patients than in the spring.
King’s College hospital in south London and the Royal London hospital in the east are among those that have recently discontinued emergency cancer surgery.