Senior doctors warn that cancer patients will not receive vital treatment during coronavirus crisis

Matt Hancock has come under pressure from doctors to increase cancer treatment capacity, which is coming under strain as resources are diverted to the coronavirus front line.

Six oncologists have sounded the alarm bell over NHS guidance which warns of a ‘significant impact’ on cancer treatments, with younger patients requiring specialist care hit hardest.

The medics single out patients requiring cutting-edge proton beam therapy, who face postponed or cancelled treatment because of the surge in demand for ventilators and anaesthetists during the epidemic.

To stop these patients receiving ‘sub-optimal conventional treatment’, the doctors urged the Health Secretary to link up with the private sector to swell capacity.   

Outlining their concerns in a letter, they write: ‘In our view, there is a real risk that patients who need proton beam therapy will be denied that treatment and given sub-optimal conventional treatment which was not theirs nor their clinician’s first choice thus potentially increasing unwanted late toxicities and affecting their quality of life in the long term. 

‘Furthermore, parents of children with cancer requiring proton therapy will hope that the Covid-19 situation should not compromise the long-term cure and quality of life for their children.’ 

The first signatory on the letter was Professor Karol Sikora, chief medical officer at Rutherford Health plc and non-executive director at Buckinghamshire NHS Trust, Stoke Mandeville, Amersham and High Wycombe Hospitals. 

PBT involves firing radiation directly at the tumour and avoids the side effects sometimes experienced by the less precise radiotherapy, which damages healthy tissue surrounding the cancerous cells. 

However most people are not offered the treatment as it is more expensive and only provided by one NHS Trust, Christie Hospital in Manchester. 

This already strained capacity faces being stretched even more because the equipment needed to perform such treatment is also required on coronavirus wards. 

In their letter, the six doctors point to NHS England guidance which states: ‘Under normal circumstances, the centre at The Christie does not have sufficient capacity to meet all NHS demand for PBT. 

‘This position has been exacerbated by the impact of Covid-19. In addition, a significant proportion of paediatric patients need to be anaesthetised on a daily basis to receive PBT treatment.’ 

The guidance, published on April 3, also predicts the reduced capacity of PBT will increase the load on conventional radiotherapy as it has to cope with more patients.

It states: ‘The demands of the Covid-19 outbreak on the NHS mean there is increased pressure on both the anaesthetists and ventilator equipment required to carry out this element of PBT treatment. 

‘Reduced PBT capacity will impact significantly on conventional radiotherapy services as an alternative form of radiation treatment. 

‘This is expected to be particularly marked in paediatric and teenage and young people radiotherapy.’ 

To widen the capacity of PBT, the six doctors urge the Health Secretary to work with independent providers, namely the three Rutherford Centres.

They write: ‘We therefore ask that a decision is taken urgently to update the NHSE guidance to reflect the fact that additional capacity is available immediately through the independent sector and should be utilised to meet clinical need from across the UK.’

The Department of Health did not immediately respond to MailOnline’s request to comment.