‘Treatments are tailored to each individual patient’

NHS Tayside’s medical director, Professor Peter Stonebridge, said in April that all patients would be offered fullstrength chemo doses after the release of a watchdog’s report into i ts cancer care practices.

In response to the allegations presented by a patient today, the health board said: “The same chemotherapy dosage regimens are offered to patients in Tayside as in the rest of Scotland. This includes offering 100mg of docetaxel.

“Every patient is treated individually and therefore treatments are tailored to t he needs of the patient.

“The chemotherapy dosage given to a patient is fully discussed and agreed in partnership with the patient during their face-to-face consultation with their oncologist. The patient gives their consent to the treatment at this meeting.

“Patients are then offered a second consultation with their oncologist prior to the start of their treatment if they want to discuss any further concerns or have additional questions.

“The patient in this case did receive these two consultations with their oncologist to discuss treatment.

“Any patient can also contact their consultant directly at any time should they have any concerns regarding their treatment.”

Dr David Dunlop, senior medical officer for Scotland, reviewed Tayside care following the release of the April report, and found “no evidence of anything other than exemplary practice around consent and communication” in the records he reviewed.

However, his claim that reduced doses of chemotherapy would have not have affected the outcomes of implicated patients was rubbished as “insensitive, dispassionate, inaccurate” by the NHS Tayside Cancer Care Support Group.

Professor Stonebridge