Local News

Steward temporarily closes cancer unit at Brockton’s Good Samaritan hospital

Steward Health Care said the hematology oncology infusion center “is temporarily paused while we recruit a new provider and staff.”

April 20, 2024

1 minute to read

Steward Health Care announced a temporary shutdown of an outpatient cancer unit at Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton.

Steward said the temporary closure at its standalone hematology oncology infusion center in Brockton is due to staffing shortage and the departure of the cancer unit’s medical director. In recent years, the company has endured financial difficulties that have threatened health care access to thousands of its Massachusetts patients.

A Steward spokesperson told The Boston Globe that the Good Samaritan infusion center “is temporarily paused while we recruit a new provider and staff.” In an April 1 letter to doctors obtained by the Globe, Steward said it’s “working with highly skilled and experienced providers at other sites to ensure that patients receive their necessary ongoing care.”

Sixty-nine Good Samaritan infusion patients were referred to other providers. Doctors were advised to refer any new cancer and blood disease patients to a Signature Healthcare center in Brockton, the Dana-Farber Brigham Cancer Center at South Shore Hospital in Weymouth, and a Steward Medical Group site in Taunton, according to the Globe.

The Good Samaritan cancer unit will reopen as soon as the vacant physician position is filled, and the hospital’s inpatient services will continue to operate as usual, according to Steward.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) is aware of the cancer unit’s temporary closure. In a statement to local media, the DPH said, “We are in communication with the practice and will assist them as needed to ensure patients continue to have access to treatment and services.”

Steward Health Care operates nine Massachusetts medical centers, all of which have struggled due to ongoing staffing issues and financial woes that have caused patients, in some instances, to languish in ER waiting rooms for hours.

Gov. Maura Healey has called for Steward to turn over its local hospitals to new operators. In February, the company said it had secured financing to keep its hospitals open while it worked on transferring some of its centers.