Bitter taste left for patients following IRP report on cancer

22.07.2010  Commenting on the publication this morning of the Independent Reconfiguration Panel’s report on the Reconfiguration of the Upper Gastro-Intestinal Cancer Surgical Service in the South West Peninsula, Andrew George MP said that patient groups would be left with a ‘bitter taste in their mouths’.

“This was only a gentle rap on the wrist for the Primary Care Trust," he said.

“Of course, clinical safety is clearly paramount. But patients were already receiving a very good service from the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust before surgery was moved in January this year.

“We are supposed to be moving towards a world of greater ‘patient choice’ and with services ‘closer to home’. However, this kind of move achieves the opposite.

“I believe that a more co-ordinated service, sharing expertise, was desirable. But managers still had a choice: either patients or clinicians could get in their cars. This decision has taken patients and their families further from their homes. This could have been avoided.”