A PRIVATE hospital in north Essex has taken on the responsibility of treating NHS cancer patients to help alleviate the added strain caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Oaks Hospital, in Mile End, Colchester, is hosting staff from Colchester Hospital to ensure care is maintained for cancer patients and those in need of urgent surgery.

Through an agreement with the Government, teams have been made available to support the NHS.

The East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust, which runs both Colchester and Ipswich hospitals, is also drawing on the resource of Nuffield Health Ipswich Hospital to keep its services going.

The private facility, in Suffolk, is being used to treat cancer and haematology patients, while cancer surgery and noncancer urgent surgery is being carried out at Colchester’s Oaks Hospital.

Speaking about its work at Oaks, the trust’s lead cancer clinician Dr Subash Vasudevan said: “We have really pushed the team and they’ve gone beyond what they would normally be doing, which has helped us to treat our cancer patients in a timely manner.”

Amy Simpson, hospital director at Oaks, added: “Our staff are standing shoulder to shoulder with the NHS to fight against Covid-19.”

A leading UK cancer charity has warned of a “ticking time bomb” of untreated cancer, with nearly 2,000 people per week going undiagnosed due to Covid-19 concerns in hospitals and GP surgeries nationwide.

Steven McIntosh, Macmillan Cancer Support policy director, said: ”We estimate that disruptions to GP referrals - screening programmes - could mean as many as 1,900 cases of cancer a week are currently going undiagnosed.”

An NHS spokesman said: “Vital tests and treatments are going ahead in a safe way for thousands of patients.”