OnMedica – News – Shortage of oncologists hinders cancer care

The workforce in oncology is currently understaffed by 18%, which is expected to reach 22% by 2023.

A staff crisis in oncology threatens to hinder the development of cutting-edge interventions, such as immunotherapy drugs and high-energy proton beam radiotherapy, says the Royal College of Radiologists (RCR). ).

His Clinical Oncology UK 2018 Census of Manpower Report reveals that the British clinical oncology workforce is currently understaffed by 18% and this deficit is expected to be at least 22% by 2023.

The report indicates that there were 922 clinical oncology consultants in the UK's 62 cancer centers in 2018, which equates to 863 full-time physicians, an increase of 46 consultants from 2017.

However, although the number of clinical oncology consultants is increasing, it does not meet the needs of hospitals and patients, as the demand for radiotherapy and chemotherapy services increases by 2% and 4% per year respectively.

As a result, the UK now lacks at least 184 clinical oncologists – the minimum number needed to fill vacant positions and cover overtime done by doctors to treat patients. This compares with the shortages of 144 physicians in 2017 and 78 in 2016.

With 53 new qualified UK consultants entering the labor market in 2019, these new recruits will not be enough to fill the 70 vacant positions in 2018.

Due to the insufficient number of clinical oncologists trained consultants, cancer centers report increasing difficulties in recruitment.

Last year, 70 vacancies in clinical oncology consultants were funded, more than double the 33 vacant positions in 2013.

A cancer center admitted to not having asked for a new job since 2015, stating that "the situation was serious," and others said that they could not fund, much less recruit, posts they needed badly.

Meanwhile, recruitment attempts abroad have been uneven. Only five centers managed to recruit foreign doctors last year. The reported problems included the lack of resources to support internationally trained consultants, as well as practical problems related to remote job interviews and the need for greater expertise in human resources in hospitals to handle complex recruitment problems abroad.

The RCR Workforce Report estimates that by 2023, the NHS will need a minimum of 1,214 full-time clinical oncology consultants to care for cancer patients. However, according to current trends, there will only be 942, which means that the United Kingdom will be short of 22%.

The report predicts that we will be able to narrow the gap between supply and demand if the number of internships is doubled – from 64 internships per year to about 138 – and it would take another decade before the number of catches.

Dr. Tom Roques, medical director of clinical practice in clinical oncology at the RCR and lead author of the report, said, "Current numbers and forecasts for CPR staff show that our cancer hospitals are under enormous pressure. many are desperate but fail to recruit, mainly because we do not have enough training consultants.

"We expect that by 2023, the workforce will be reduced to over 20%, and we fear that it is the people with cancer who are suffering, with less time for clinical oncology experts.

"Central and decentralized governments and their related health workforce agencies need to take these findings into account and act now to increase the number of clinical oncologists and improve work practices to help them stay in the community." NHS, in the interest of all cancer patients. "