No guarantees of radiation therapy when new Corner Brook hospital opens

NL Health Services shared on its social media in October 2023 that the new radiation therapy machine, or linear accelerator, for Corner Brook was in place. (Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services/Facebook)

The provincial health authority says cancer patients in western Newfoundland may not be able to get radiation therapy at the new hospital in Corner Brook as soon as it opens.

Dr. Teri Stuckless, clinical chief of the provincial Cancer Care Program, said there may be a delay in having that treatment available at the new Western Memorial Regional Hospital, because there's no radiation oncologist on staff.

Stuckless said efforts to recruit radiation oncologists for Corner Brook are ongoing, and there has been recent interest with some new applicants in just the past few weeks.

But she said getting those specialists screened, hired and in place before the hospital opens in early June might not be realistic.

Without a radiation oncologist, Stuckless said it won't be possible -- or safe -- to offer radiation therapy to patients.

"Unfortunately, no," said Stuckless. "We haven't been able to find a model of care that we think is safe without the presence of a radiation oncologist at the site."

In a news release Thursday, Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services said the Western Memorial Regional Hospital will open June 2. While listing services that will be available at the seven-storey facility, the release said "radiotherapy services will be operational upon full recruitment of our clinical team."

Gerard Parsons, who helped lobby for the new hospital, said in an earlier interview that he is disappointed that after years of planning for the building, radiation therapy is still not in place.

"To know now that they don't have enough staff to maintain it, I don't know what to think. It's disheartening," Parsons said earlier this month.

Virtual not a reality

Stuckless said that during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, a health-care facility in Ontario experimented with offering treatment without a radiation oncologist on-site at all times. She said there's no way to do that long-term as patients can experience side effects and hands-on care with live real-time access is vital.

"The standard of care needs to have a radiation oncologist accessible at the site. You know, If they're two doors down, that's different than if they're eight hours away," Stuckless told CBC Radio's Newfoundland Morning.

LISTEN | Find out what's in store for radiaton oncology at Corner Brook's new hospital:

One of the biggest challenges in recruiting radiation oncologists for Corner Brook is simply supply and demand, said Stuckless.

She said only between 20 and 25 physicians complete radiation oncology training each year in Canada, and she said it's her understanding that this year's cohort of graduates has found jobs already.

Dr. Teri Stuckless is clinical chief of the provincial Cancer Care Program at NL Health Services. (Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services)

She said there have been doctors from N.L. who've entered the specialty in the past, but health authorities here haven't managed to draw them back to practise in the province.

Stuckless said radiation oncology is a particularly challenging specialty to recruit, but she's confident that everything has been done to try to make it happen.

Stuckless said there tend to be "troughs and peaks" in the supply of radiation oncologists and, unfortunately, the new Corner Brook facility is opening around the same time as a number of other new clinics in Canada.

Stuckless said there are, at the present time, between 15 and 20 vacancies for radiation oncology in centres across the country.

"This is not a Newfoundland problem. This is a Canadian problem," said Stuckless.

Help wanted

N.L. Health Services is currently advertising for two radiation oncologists for Corner Brook, but Stuckless said the health authority's efforts to recruit have been going on for a few years.

She said they started by reaching out to residency training programs, to make it known that Newfoundland and Labrador was getting a new clinic.

The new acute care hospital in Corner Brook is intended to provide a second location in the province to receive radiation therapy services. (Colleen Connors/CBC )

She said representatives from western Newfoundland were part of that effort, highlighting the beauty and appeal of living in the region.

In the past few months, Stuckless said a recruitment agency has been engaged to help attract radiation oncologists, and she's encouraged that a few applications have come in as a result.

Stuckless cautions, however, that a screening process must be followed in order to ensure that potential candidates are eligible to be licensed in Newfoundland and Labrador and are going to maintain the high level of quality and safe care that patients receive when they take treatment at the cancer care centre in St. John's.

"It takes time to get the right people in the right place at the right time," said Stuckless. "We will get there. We hope to get there in time for the planned start but, if not, then you know we will continue these efforts."

Stuckless notes that some cancer patients will still have to travel to St. John's for radiation therapy, because the plan originally developed in 2015 was that not all types of radiation treatment will be available at the new Western Memorial Regional Hospital.

However, Stuckless said radiation therapy will be available in Corner Brook for the most common types of cancer, which are breast cancer and prostate cancer, once radiation therapy is ready to go.

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