Concerns raised over care of cancer patients during impending nurses’ strikes
Senior health leaders have raised concerns about the care of cancer patients during the impending nurses’ strikes – including warnings that some chemotherapy appointments are being rescheduled.
In a letter seen by Sky News political editor Beth Rigby, the head of cancer care for NHS England, Dame Cally Palmer, called on Royal College of Nursing (RCN) union boss Pat Cullen to protect “life-saving” and “urgent” cancer surgery from walkouts, which begin on Thursday.
In another letter obtained by the Times, chief nursing officer for England, Dame Ruth May, says chemotherapy appointments are being rescheduled, and asked for assurances about the care of dying patients during the strikes in England, Wales and Northern Ireland on 15 and 20 December.
Chief nursing officer for England, Dame Ruth May
Dame Cally said she was “extremely concerned about the absence of national derogation for urgent cancer surgery”.
A derogation is an exemption, either of an individual or a whole service, from taking part in strike action.
She went on: “I understand how enormously difficult these issues are for all concerned, but our common aim is to ensure we do not cause harm to people undergoing vital cancer treatment to achieve cure or extension of life.
“It’s important there is a clear and consistent decision on urgent cancer in line with the national derogation for chemotherapy and critical care.”
The RCN insists there will be a derogation for emergency cancer services, as well as for mental health and learning disability and autism services, and said the public was behind its action.
“The public backs our campaign and knows that patients need a strong nursing workforce, but at the moment there are record losses jeopardising safe care,” the union said.
Dame Cally said the strikes were likely to lead to cancelled operations for cancer patients in P1 and P2 categories.
In her letter, she explained P1 surgery “is life-saving, and time critical, and must be maintained”, while P2 is “urgent cancer surgery which has an optimal time window”.
She said rescheduling procedures “is likely to lead to delayed operations and poorer outcomes” and many of these patients will move into the P1 category, requiring life-saving procedures as a result of re-scheduling.
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The RCN, however, insisted cancer patients would get emergency and clinically urgent surgery, and in its response to the letter assured that was “not in doubt”.
A spokesperson for the union added: “This is a politically-motivated smear from a government that is failing cancer patients.”
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In their correspondence, the chief nursing officer for England, and her counterparts in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, wrote to Ms Cullen raising a series of concerns about patient safety.
“Many chief nurses/directors of nursing are, of course, RCN members themselves and some have expressed feelings of having been let down by the RCN,” they wrote.
The chief nursing officers said chemotherapy is being rescheduled from the strike days at some hospitals despite the union agreeing it would be exempt nationally.
They wrote that “there are examples of some trusts being asked to submit derogation forms for chemotherapy and organisations now preparing to reschedule chemotherapy from 15th and 20th December”.
The chief nurses also asked for assurances that community nursing services providing “end of life care and good pain and symptom relief” continue in order to “alleviate unnecessary distress” for palliative patients and their families.
The RCN said on Tuesday it had agreed further exemptions to the strike action, including emergency cancer services and “front-door” urgent care assessment and admission units for paediatric-only A&E departments.
“This letter is already out of date, as we have met senior clinicians today and agreed key points. The safety of patients is everybody’s top concern,” the union’s spokesperson said.
The heated letters exchange came at a time when a new report shows the NHS is treating fewer patients than it was pre-pandemic despite more funding and staff – suggesting a long-term COVID impact on the health service’s performance.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies has said the NHS carried out 14% fewer emergency admissions, 14% fewer outpatient appointments and 11% fewer elective and maternity admissions in the latest month of data than it did in the same period in 2019, according to the IFS.
Health Secretary Steve Barclay
Why did talks break down?
Talks between the unions and the government to try to avert strike action broke down on Monday, after Health Secretary Steve Barclay was accused of refusing to negotiate on pay.
The union is demanding a pay rise of 5% above the RPI rate of inflation, which was 14.2% in October, but Ms Cullen has hinted that she could compromise if the government negotiates on pay.
Ministers have repeatedly insisted they can’t afford to give inflation-busting pay rises and say they have accepted the independent pay review body’s recommendation of a £1,400 rise.
Meanwhile, members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) began the first of two 48-hour strikes at Network Rail – and 14 train companies – on Tuesday which will last until Friday.
The strikes come at a time of planned industrial action in a whole number of UK spheres, including healthcare – with paramedics also planning to walkout – postal workers, Border Force agents, firefighters, driving instructors, bus operators, airport baggage handlers and even coffin makers.
A workman saved a seven-year-old boy from a burning car in the aftermath of a deadly crash caused by a suicidal ex-pilot, an inquest has heard.
The schoolboy’s rescue came following the collision on the M6, which killed former RAF man Richard Woods and four others, in October last year.
Last week a coroner ruled that Woods, 40, took his own life by deliberately driving his Skoda the wrong way down the motorway while drunk and hitting a Toyota Yaris head-on.
The driver of the Toyota, Jaroslaw Rossa, 42, was also killed, along with his two sons, Filip, 15, and Dominic, seven, and his partner Jade McEnroe, 33.
Cockermouth Coroner’s Court heard on Thursday that Ms McEnroe’s son was also in the car but survived after workman Gavin Walsh came to his rescue at the scene, which was near Tebay services in Cumbria.
In a statement to the inquest, Mr Walsh said he was a passenger in a transit van travelling to Scotland when he witnessed the crash.
He jumped out of the vehicle and used a jack to smash the rear windscreen of the Toyota and pulled the boy out of the burning vehicle.
Mr Walsh said: “We really did try, I can assure everyone we did our best. We only had minimal time.
“I saved a life that day and I hope never to witness anything like that again.”
He added that he has never stopped thinking about the boy, and said: “I hope we will meet again one day and I will give you a massive hug.”
At the time, the family were returning to Glasgow from a trip to Legoland in Windsor, Berkshire.
The inquest heard that Wood, who was travelling at a speed of at least 65mph, would have been charged with manslaughter had he survived.
Recording conclusions of unlawful killing, Cumbria assistant coroner Margaret Taylor said: “I found that Jaroslaw, Jade, Filip and Dominic died as a consequence of the unlawful acts of another driver.”
The inquest heard how Mr Woods, from Cambridgeshire, had served a distinguished 14-year career in the RAF and was a flight instructor for BAE Systems at the time of his death.
Jade McEnroe. Pic: Cumbria Constabulary
Dominic and Filip. Pic: Cumbria Constabulary
In Ms Taylor’s record of inquest, Mr Woods was said to have been experiencing “a number of stressors in his life” and had a “history of harmful use of alcohol”.
Following the crash, he was found to be nearly four times over the legal drink-drive limit and a two-thirds empty bottle of gin was found in his car.
On the day of his death, concerns had been raised over his behaviour at a work conference near Preston in Lancashire.
Mr Woods failed to return to his seat after lunch and was later spotted driving erratically and swerving across three northbound carriageway lanes on the M6.
After pulling onto the hard shoulder, he then proceeded to U-turn and drove southward on lane three.
Filip, Dominic and Jaroslaw Rossa. Pic: Cumbria Constabulary
Detective Sergeant Deborah Story, from Cumbria Police, told the inquest that Mr Woods would have been prosecuted on four counts of manslaughter had he lived.
She said hypothetical charges of murder were considered by detectives but not thought appropriate because of a lack of information that Mr Woods knew the family or anything that provided a link between them.
Ms McEnroe’s parents, Marie McEnroe and George McNellis, told the coroner they thought it was “murder”.
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A statement from the mother of Filip and Dominic, and the ex-wife of Mr Rossa, Kamila, was read out at the inquest.
She said Mr Rossa, known as Jarek, was born in Poland where they became a couple and went on to have three boys.
He loved playing computer games and had “lots of friends”, she said, and worked at the Wagamama restaurant in Silverburn, Glasgow.
She said she was “devastated” over the deaths, adding: “Our lives will never be the same.
“I am heartbroken at the passing of my beloved angels Filip and Dominic.”
Marie McEnroe said her daughter, a spa therapist, had been in a relationship with Mr Rossa for about two-and-a-half years.
She said Jade had been a “brilliant mother” to her only child, was “really happy” with Mr Rossa and it was “lovely chaos” when all the boys were playing together.
Ms McEnroe added: “Life changed forever that day”.
Ms Taylor praised the “selfless acts of bravery” from those in the aftermath of the collision, including Mr Walsh, who she said went towards the burning car “without hesitation for his own safety”.
The coroner added: “Without his swift response, Jade’s child would also have perished.”
Addressing the bereaved family members, she said: “Your loss is unimaginable but you have conducted yourself with dignity and I thank you for that. I wish you strength for the future.”
Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK.
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