Patients' 'unnecessary' treatment

The government requires treatment to begin within 31 days of diagnosis.

But Chris Hamilton of Hull's Princess Royal Hospital says that means some low-risk patients are being treated before more urgent cases.

The government said there was provision for patients who did not need treatment to be taken off waiting lists.

Mr Hamilton told BBC Radio Five Live he had given some prostate patients hormone therapy to move them down the waiting list.

He said: "You're caught in a bind. Either you give them unnecessary treatment with hormones and reclassify them or you put them to the front of the queue where they shouldn't really be."

Mr Hamilton said he knew other hospitals were doing this and had informed Mike Richards, the national cancer director, about the practice.

The Prostate Cancer Charity said it was profoundly shocked because the practice was not based on patient care.

The Royal College of Radiologists said giving someone a treatment they did not need because of a waiting list target was not good medicine.

A recent survey by the College found that over half of cancer patients were waiting longer than the four week maximum wait it recommended for post operative radiotherapy.

Mr Hamilton's comments, part of an investigation on Cancer Care Unplugged, will be broadcast on Radio Five Live at 1000 BST on Sunday, 8 April, 2007.

A Department of Health spokeswoman said: "If there is a clinical reason for not starting treatment within the four week guideline or the patient does not want to start treatment immediately there is clear provision within the guidance for the patient to be taken out of the list."

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