Some children with cancer have been delayed in the chemotherapy session as more than half of the specialist nurses in the area have been discontinued in the Belfast Health Trust.
The trust confirmed BBC News Ni that seven members of the employees are “unavailable to work due to planned and unplanned absences”.
About five children have been affected with a child, whose treatment has returned for five days.
The Belfast Health Trust stated that it was working hard to ensure “adequate and safe staffing levels” in Hematology and Oncology Departments for Royal Belfast Hospital, and no child had to go out of Northern Ireland to get treatment.
Sources have told BBC News NI that the issues around the staffing levels in the Health Trust have been raised, and especially about the number of specialist nurses in pediatrices and oncology departments.
A member of the employees said that staffing problems were not being addressed by the senior management.
The trust said that while the nursing posts were fully admitted, unfortunately “the number of chemotherapy-educated nursing staff on the ward has been temporarily reduced due to planned and unplanned absence”.
Currently, the number of absent nursing staff is seven of the total employees of 12.
“As a result, wide hematology and oncology departments are working hard to review all nursing roles within the departments of the service service and protect the most important treatments,” the trust said.
“Nurses working on the hematology ward require specialist training for a very high standard so that they can safely provide chemotherapy.”
Expert training for newly qualified nurses may take two years.
The trust stated that delay in treatment was not only below stuffing issues, but also had the availability of clinical assessment of children, bed capacity and chemotherapy preparations over the weekends.
It states that “there were no negative clinical consequences” and wrote to the parents of the affected children to offer an opportunity to discuss the care of their children.
Another member of employees contacted BBC News NI said that a spotlight has shone on the failures of the building and Repair within Belfast TrustThose who are spending ten million pounds, employees feel “disappointed” that money is getting away from the front-line care.
The trust stated that timely treatment and distribution is a high priority.
It said that it is “actively working to improve the situation and is being closely monitored on a daily basis to ensure staffing and service distribution to ensure adequate and safe staffing level”.
