Cancer surgery could be delayed due to staff shortages at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne. 

The centre says some elective surgery lists could be postponed due to staffing issues, with more than 600 people currently waiting for surgery at the hospital.

Healthcare staffing is still suffering from the impacts of the pandemic, when international recruitment was stopped.

“Like many other health services, we are working hard to attract new staff and retain the wonderful staff who already work here,” a spokesperson has told reporters.

“Recruitment is underway with a number of additional highly skilled clinical staff commencing at Peter Mac shortly.”

Vice president of the Victorian branch of the Australian Medical Association, Jill Tomlinson, says the workforce issues are due to “significant shortages of theatre nursing staff”.

“Delays in surgery cause significant distress for patients. It also distresses the clinicians who are treating them,” she said.

“We know the impact of delaying surgery, it creates both pain [and] anxiety. And it also can mean that a condition for the patient clinically deteriorates.”

The cancer centre says it is working on the staffing problem.

“Plans have been developed to further increase surgery numbers across 2023,” the Peter MacCallum spokesperson said.

“This includes adding additional surgery lists and other measures to support the Victorian government's plan to improve access to elective surgery.”