Fewer staff left Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Trust cancer workforce last year

It comes as cancer charities have called on the Government to address high turnover, so England has a cancer service “fit for the future”.

NHS data for Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Trust – which runs Sutton’s King’s Mill and Mansfield Community hospitals – shows six staff left the cancer workforce in the year to September 2022, down from nine the year before.

The figures also show six new cancer staff entered the trust’s workforce last year.

Across all NHS hospital and community health services, turnover in the cancer workforce reached 12.1 per cent with 4,378 staff leaving last year, the highest rate since 2010.

Steven McIntosh, Macmillan Cancer Support executive director of advocacy, said: “We’re seeing record numbers of cancer care staff leaving the NHS.

“When are politicians going to start listening to the pleas of desperate, overstretched NHS staff and critically ill patients? Governments can redress this, but only if they act now.”

Analysis by the charity suggests the number of people being seen by a specialist for suspected cancer since 2010 has grown almost four times faster than the number of NHS cancer staff.

While the cancer workforce has grown by 54 per cent, the number of people being seen for suspected cancer has nearly tripled.

Kruti Shrotri, Cancer Research UK head of policy development, said: “Cancer survival in England lags behind similar countries and waiting targets continue to be missed.

“The solution lies in the hands of the Government who must show leadership and ensure we have a cancer workforce fit for the future.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “The NHS workforce has never been bigger and we have made significant progress in developing and growing the cancer workforce.

“But there is more to do. Our Long Term Workforce Plan will deliver the biggest training expansion in NHS history, recruit hundreds of thousands more staff and address staff leaving rates, which are already decreasing.”

Mr McIntosh said the plan outlines “promising” commitments, but lacks crucial detail around what it will mean longer-term for the cancer workforce and people with cancer.