Cancer centre struggling to fill posts

The Beatson is Scotland's biggest cancer centre

Scotland's main cancer treatment centre could take two years to return to a full quota of consultants, its acting director has warned.

The Beatson Oncology Centre in Glasgow has struggled to recruit consultant oncologists since four specialists quit last November complaining of a lack of resources.

At a meeting of Greater Glasgow's Health Board Dr Adam Bryson said that the crisis which hit the centre last year was having a lasting impact.

He said no applications had been received in response to a recruitment drive during the summer and that filling the posts was proving difficult during a worldwide shortage of consultant oncologists.

Dr Bryson: "Consultants working under pressure"

Dr Bryson said: "It is a shortage which has been recognised now for a little time and has been acted on to the extent that there are quite a considerable number of trained oncologists.

"They are not becoming available at a significant rate of knots at the moment, but the expectation is that next year and the year after that there will be significant numbers of trained clinical oncologists coming through."

At the height of the staffing crisis the centre was operating with the equivalent of 14-and-a-half full-time clinical oncologists. The full quota is 20.

Since then, the number has risen by three.

The Scottish Executive gave the Beatson additional funding for four more consultant posts last November, but Dr Bryson said they were unlikely to be filled for two years.

It takes a very short time to develop a bad reputation, but a lot longer to rehabilitate yourself

Dr Adam Bryson

He said: "If our activity is going up by 5% each year, which it is, then our quota should increase by one a year, so we're chasing an evermore challenging target.

"What we must expect is that we will make progressive steps towards that and hopefully a couple of new appointments might be made in the New Year."

Efforts were being made to cut the workload of consultants, who at one stage were treating more than twice the recommended number of new patients per year.

He said: "There is no doubt that oncologists within the centre are working under pressure.

Four consultants left last November

"We are carrying out further work to endeavour to equalise the pressure on those individual consultants.

"It takes a very short time to develop a bad reputation, but a lot longer to rehabilitate yourself."

One new consultant oncologist, Dr Helen McKay, is due to join the centre's team and a medical director is expected to be appointed by the end of the year.

The Beatson has also increased nursing staff levels by the equivalent of 73 full time nurses over the past year, almost entirely filling the posts made available by the extra executive funding.

Dr Bryson said he believed the appointments were an important step in turning round the image of the centre.