Cancer patients ‘treated differently’
An independent review group has published its report into the differential treatment of breast cancer patients at NHS Tayside.
The review was requested after it was revealed that the health board had given a number of patients a lower dosage of chemotherapy than they would have received across other Scottish health boards.
The group, commissioned by Scotland’s chief medical officer Dr Catherine Calderwood and chief pharmaceutical officer Rose Marie Parr, was tasked with producing a risk assessment of the impact that clinical practice variations at the health board could have on patients.
The report states: “It appears that patients in NHS Tayside are being treated differently from patients in the rest of NHS Scotland with chemotherapy in the adjuvant and neo-adjuvant setting.
“The decision to treat differently lacks robust evidence or multidisciplinary consultation.”
The report also noted: “Breast cancer patients in NHS Tayside were not informed during the consent process of these variations in clinical practice.”
The group recommended that a review of medicine governance, decision making and sign-off processes at NHS Tayside is carried out.