Staff crisis hit cancer patients

Radiographers are in short supply in Oxfordshire

Cancer patients in Oxfordshire are being forced to wait nearly four months for treatment because of an NHS staff shortage.

The backlog at the Churchill Hospital in Headington comes despite a major recruitment drive offering bonus payments to radiographers.

Hospital bosses say the hospital's cancer unit needs 13 more people for the department to be run effectively.

Breast and prostate cancer patients are the worst affected by the jobs shortage, having to wait up to 15 weeks for radiotherapy treatment after surgery.

'Lukewarm' response

Those people who need radiotherapy only are having to wait around seven weeks.

Prospective recruits are being offered a starting salary of more than £23,000 a year - 17.5% above the national rate.

But NHS chiefs say the response so far has been "lukewarm", although they add they are cautiously optimistic about filling the full-time radiographer posts.

Existing radiographers at the hospital, which treats more than 150 cancer sufferers every day, have increased their hours and agency staff are also being used.