Brussels, (Brussels Morning)- The paediatric oncology department of UZ Brussel is no longer able to receive young cancer patients undergoing acute treatment. The patients who are in follow-up treatment can still stay. The acute staff shortage has been a problem for UZ Brussel for some time now.
Spokesperson for UZ Brussel Petra Van San emphasises that not the entire department will be closed. “It is a temporary situation due to staff shortages,” it sounds. “As a result, we are now forced to transfer about fifteen patients who need acute treatment – for example children who regularly come to the hospital for their chemo treatment – to another oncology centre. It often concerns children in day care, so the transfer does not take place via ambulances.”
“Neither are new treatments being started yet,” says Van San. “But children who are in follow-up treatment after the acute phase are still taken care of by us. The transfer was of course done in consultation with the patients and their parents, but nevertheless it remains a difficult situation.”
Staff shortage
“It is a problem that we have known for two years. We had attracted someone extra, but that person eventually made a different choice. At the moment there is a concurrence of circumstances: a combination of personnel changes, illness and holiday periods leads to a personnel shortage.” said BRUZZ.
The young patients are transferred to different centres. “We have agreements with various centres. Depending on where they live, they end up in Brussels, Leuven or Ghent. This is of course not a pleasant situation for the parents, the children and the caregivers. We therefore entered into a personal conversation with each of them. After all, we realise that the impact is huge. For us it is paramount that the care for these children remains optimal.”
The discussions with the parents have taken place over the past few weeks. “So from now on, their file will be transferred to other centres. You could say it’s a kind of extinction scenario,” says Van San.
Conversations
It is not known when UZ Brussel will be able to receive more patients in the paediatric oncology department again, and whether the current patients will be allowed to return at a certain time. “It depends from situation to situation. For example, how long should someone be treated? We are now in talks with a number of doctors, but we cannot say when the situation will be restored.”
“It is a more general problem, certainly with physician profiles. Paediatricians are generally more difficult to find, especially when it comes to certain specialisations. As a hospital, we continue to proactively work on our teams and staffing levels, but it is not always easy to provide a solution.”
It is not the first time that UZ Brussel has had to announce that it can no longer take in young cancer patients. In 2020, the nursing team and the doctors of the paediatric oncology service at UZ Brussel were informed that their service was being phased out. There was also a staff shortage.
