Stafford's County Hospital misses cancer treatment target
Cancer treatment targets at Stafford’s County Hospital are being missed – just a year after a specialist £2m centre opened at the site.
Bosses will now plough more than £460,000 into trying to turn the situation around by September.
New NHS guidelines say at least 70 per cent of patients given an urgent referral with suspicion of cancer should start treatment within 62 days from September.
But Louise Donovan, associate director for elective access and cancer with UHNM Trust, said: “UHNM has not delivered the 62 day standard for some considerable time, albeit performance on this standard has been steadily improving over the last year and all other national cancer standards are now being met.”
Paula Clark, trust chief executive, said: “Unfortunately, the trust continues to be unable to achieve the national 62 day cancer treatment standard in some specialities.
“However, we continue to see improvements in performance over the past year, and all other national cancer treatment standards are now being met. To help us reach the 62 day cancer treatment standard by September 2017 – as requested by NHS England and NHS Improvement – the trust has been allocated £463,000 to help address performance in this area.”
Fred Goodwin, chairman of the Staffordshire Head and Neck Cancer Support Group, said it is ‘absolutely vital’ that the 62 day targets are met more regularly.
He said: “From my own personal experience, I wasn’t seen until after the 62 day period and you start to wonder if you are starting to try and beat it too late. I hope that this can be fixed because if you start your treatment sooner rather than later, it helps you quite a lot, it is absolutely vital.”
The £2 million centre at County Hospital, located in the former Shugborough Ward on the ground floor, opened last summer and provides treatment areas for up to 18 cancer patients at a time.
According to board papers set to be discussed on Monday, £248,000 will be spent on additional members of staff who will be responsible for ensuring all cancer patients are monitored, tracked and treated on a daily basis.
Meanwhile, £121,480 will be spent on providing additional clinics and £50,000 will go towards hiring a temporary radiology specialist.
