A campaign to keep all radiotherapy services in Cornwall prompted over 11,000 responses from people desperately hoping NHS England will not move the services out of county.
In a statement, NHS England said, “Due to the high number of responses received, it will take some time to understand the different views put forward. This is now being analysed so that NHS England can carefully consider the proposals in light of the feedback. A formal response to the consultation will be published in due course.”
The national healthcare system’s plan forms part of a wider Government push to centralise radiotherapy services, which would result in moving some radiotherapy treatments away from the Sunrise Centre at Treliske to Plymouth or Exeter, or maybe even Bristol.
Janet Shephard, former head of radiotherapy and trustee of the Sunrise Appeal, said: “We were told that we were getting het up about nothing and getting things out of proportion, that there are no plans to close the Sunrise Centre and that it was just a very small number of patients with rare tumours that could be affected.”
Consultants at the Sunrise Centre said the proposals could directly affect 200 or more patients a year from Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, all of whom are currently treated in Cornwall. They were also worried that if the consultation gets the green light, the changes could result in the cutting-edge technology at the Sunrise Centre being underutilised and potentially mothballed in the future.
Mrs Shephard added: “I think NHS England got a few more responses than they were hoping for. I can say with confidence that this is one public consultation which has definitely not slipped quietly under the radar, so I want to say thank you to everyone that took the time to fill in the campaign and make their voice heard and to everyone who has joined us in this campaign so far.”
Mrs Shephard added, “Come April, we will either be able to celebrate or we will be rallying our supporters once again to take the fight to the next stage. I truly believe that together we can do this; together we can make people listen and together we can make a difference.”
Article originally appeared on Falmouth Packet
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