12 January 2012
Cancer patients who need emergency treatment at Epsom and St Helier hospitals are set to benefit from a brand new life-saving service, which includes the appointment of two additional oncology (cancer) consultants and two new cancer nurse specialists (advanced nurses who specialise in looking after people with cancer).
The new service (known as the acute oncology service), which costs more than £130,000 a year, was launched so that local people with cancer - whether newly diagnosed or those who are experiencing serious complications as a result of the disease - can access the care that they need faster and more efficiently than ever before.
Sadly, complications relating to cancer or its treatment - such as serious illness as a result of a weakened immune system - are not unusual and can occasionally be life-threatening if not managed correctly. With additional oncology consultants and cancer nurse specialists on hand to work with doctors, nurses and other clinicians across our hospitals, we are able to diagnose the problem and identify the best way to treat them faster than before.
In addition, the new service will be help to treat and support the significant number of patients who are diagnosed with cancer at our hospitals following a visit to our A&E (accident and emergency) departments every year.
Dr Lydia Jones is the lead consultant for cancer services at the Trust. She said: "This new way of working is the most significant development in cancer services at our hospitals for more than a decade, and will help us to deliver an even higher standard of care to local people who have cancer.
"Each year, more than 1,000 patients are diagnosed with cancer at our hospitals, and of those, we estimate that a quarter are first seen at our A&E departments.
"The new acute oncology service provides an initial assessment to those patients, allowing us to speed up the time it takes to diagnose their cancer and, working with them, plan for their treatment. Doing this will really improve the care patients receive and, and in severe circumstances, help us to save lives."
Dr David Watkins and Dr Jaishree Bhosle are acute oncology consultants from the Royal Marsden Hospital in Sutton, and have joined the team at Epsom and St Helier to provide further support for patients who need urgent hospital treatment.
Dr Watkins said: "This new service provides cancer patients with ready access to oncology specialists, allowing treatment decisions to be made more rapidly - and improving the care of cancer patients in the local area."
