A hospital has admitted that a radiologist carried on working with cancer patients after testing positive for coronavirus.

The Jeroen Bosch Ziekenhuis in Den Bosch said it had deviated from the RIVM’s guidelines because no other member of staff was available to take on the radiologist’s patients.

‘In this case we weighed up the risks in the interests of continuity of healthcare,’ a spokeswoman told AD.nl. She added that the person concerned was working under strict conditions, including wearing a face mask and maintaining a distance of 1.5 metres.

‘In this specific situation we would otherwise have had to intervene in the breast cancer programme and cancel appointments with patients,’ the spokeswoman said.

A member of staff who spoke to AD on condition of anonymity said: ‘We raised the issue with management, but we were told that the risk of infection is very low. We feel unsafe: some of us have family members with poor health.’

The regional acute care organisation (ROAZ) for Brabant said it was not standard practice in the province to allow hospital staff to carry on working with a Covid-19 infection.

‘The RIVM guidelines are clear and we don’t depart from them,’ said a spokesman. ‘If the Jeroen Bosch Ziekenhuis is departing from them, that’s a matter for them.’