Chemotherapy treatments suspended at Stanton hospital after review

Chemotherapy services have been suspended at Stanton Territorial Hospital in Yellowknife after an Alberta cancer group found the hospital's chemotherapy program needsimprovement.

According to an N.W.T.Health Authority news release,CancerControl Alberta was invited to review the territory's chemotherapy services last month.

Stanton is the only hospital in the N.W.T. that offers chemotherapy.

The review found Stanton hospital staff requiremore training on how to give chemotherapy treatments to patients. It also found that territorial policies on chemotherapy treatment should be reviewed.

The health authority says 30 cancer patients will be affected and willnow be sent to Edmonton for treatment.

The authority says it is working on improving the program but says the suspension was not triggered by a specific incident.

It says it will also conduct a review of past chemotherapy treatments to make sure they were administered properly.

The authority hopes to resume itschemotherapy program by February 2018.

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