Mount Vernon in Hillingdon, north-west London, is one of the NHS’s specialist cancer hospitals, along with London’s Royal Marsden and the Christie in Manchester. Voters in the seat are among the 2 million people in London, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Berkshire for whom Mount Vernon is their nearest specialist cancer centre. Cancer charities said the hospital’s shortcomings were “deeply worrying” and reflect the serious workforce shortages and reliance on old equipment that are increasingly common in NHS cancer services after almost a decade of austerity funding of the health service. “Time after time we’ve heard about staff shortages causing crises in NHS cancer services, and this is yet more evidence of the unbearable pressure on the system,” said Matt Case, Cancer Research UK’s policy manager. Gwyneth Tyler, Macmillan Cancer Support’s head of services for south and east England, said: “The findings from the recent review into the Mount Vernon Cancer centre are deeply worrying.

Source: The Guardian October 03, 2019 16:10 UTC