Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Efforts stepped up to recruit consultants for crisis-hit cancer service
ONLY four candidates have been interviewed in two years to fix a recruitment crisis that has left NHS Tayside without a single breast cancer consultant.
Health chiefs cast the net as far as Canada following an exodus of staff in the wake of a chemotherapy dosing scandal.
Health Secretary Humza Yousaf admitted the problem is “clearly not satisfactory” but said efforts to recruit staff are being stepped up.
Responding to concerns at Holyrood, the SNP minister confirmed only four applications from cancer doctors proceeded to interview in the two years leading up to May 31.
“All four were working in the UK but the nationalities of those individuals were British, Australian, Sri Lankan and Singaporean,” he said.
“NHS Tayside remains in ongoing dialogue with two potential overseas appointees who are currently based in Canada but of Indian origin.
“Additionally, one trainee at the centre has recently taken up a full-time post.”
NHS Tayside’s breast cancer service was thrown into turmoil in 2019 when it was revealed that around 200 women had been given “lower than standard” doses of a chemotherapy drug to reduce harmful side effects.
North East MSP Michael Marra said a “flawed” Healthcare Improvement Scotland report is “actually at the core of this recruitment issue”.
“Humza Yousaf says there is a committed team there but the reality is that the last breast cancer oncologist left Dundee two weeks ago,” Mr Marra said.
“Patients are having to travel hundreds of miles to access those services.”
Scottish Conservative health spokesman Sandesh Gulhane said the low number of interviews over the past two years shows there has been “reputation damage”.
He added: “Humza Yousaf is already patting himself on the back over these four interviews but the recruitment crisis in Tayside Cancer Centre is far from over.”