The patients I'm seeing now are more ill, have more advanced cancer and have less positive outcomes than the equivalent patients during the Labour years...yet research and innovation in cancer care has increased exponentially.
My patients now are unable to get to see their GP and when they do the 2WW is a joke. By the time they get to me and my team they have waited too long and I'm having to tell patients every day that their survival is reduced.
My staff are on their knees and struggling to cope with more patients, more complex patients and patients who are being dx later. Of course they are stressed and they are angry and feel,helpless. I currently have 5 nurses, 2 junior doctors and 2 managers on long term sick leave. A mixture of mental health issues, long covid and decline in health due to not having access to specialist care. All are dear colleagues and valued members of the team and we feel their absence in so many ways.