A NSW doctor accused of underdosing more than 100 cancer patients continued treating cases for five months after it first came to light, a parliamentary inquiry has heard.
St Vincent's Hospital's CEO and clinicians revealed Dr John Grygiel was sent patients until November last year, despite the issue coming to the attention of the hospital in June, a NSW upper house inquiry heard on Monday.
"Unfortunately ... we had no other medical oncologist," St Vincent's Cancer Services Director Richard Gallagher told the inquiry, adding Dr Grygiel had changed his prescription practice in June or July.
The inquiry comes after a government review found more than 100 head and neck cancer patients in Sydney and the state's central west had been given flat or significantly reduced doses of chemotherapy by Dr Grygiel.
Despite the discovery in June, it was not until February this year that patients were informed, following an external review.
"We wanted to have the feedback from the external report to talk openly with patients about what had happened, so we were waiting on the external advice," St Vincent's chief executive Anthony Schembri said.
His colleague, Professor Gallagher, was called out on an email in which he allegedly asked his colleagues if they really needed to tell patients about the under-dosing, but he complained this was taken out of context.
"I was acutely alway this was going to cause distress, not only for patients but for their relatives. I was trying to get some conversation going as to how we were going to go about (telling them)," he said.
Hospital authorities say it will not be known for years how patients will be affected, but admit they were wrong to issue a press release suggesting patients won't be affected.
"That was a poor phrase, what we should have said was we don't know the true impact on patients," St Vincent's group CEO Toby Hall told the inquiry.
He also said Dr Grygiel told him he believed the under-dosing was "in the best interests of his patient".
"The cohort of patients we're talking about are incredibly frail and carboplatin (the chemotherapy drug) is poisonous," Mr Hall said.
"I do believe he thought that that was in the best interests of the patients themselves."
Since the scandal came to light, St Vincent's has implemented an electronic prescribing system to prevent any incorrect dosages.
Dr Grygiel, the only person to have lost his job in the affair, will be questioned at the inquiry on Tuesday.
