Child cancer care units retained

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/scotland/7276627.stm

Version 0 of 1.

Cancer services for children will be "retained and enhanced" in Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dundee, Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon has said.

It had been feared the care centre in Aberdeen would be downgraded after a review recommended centralisation.

Ms Sturgeon said: "I realise there has been a great deal of uncertainty over children's cancer services in Scotland and I can now remove any doubts."

Experts had said centralising services could improve treatment and survival.

One proposal was to withdraw some aspects of diagnosis, treatment, research and training from Aberdeen and Edinburgh, concentrating them in Glasgow.

Another would have seen Aberdeen downgraded, with Glasgow and Edinburgh becoming national centres for children's cancer.

Fighting cancer is a traumatic enough experience for any child, without having to travel hundreds of miles for treatment. Mike RumblesWest Aberdeenshire and Kincardine MSP

NHS Grampian argued that if there were to be two centres, one should be in the north of the country.

Ms Sturgeon, speaking in Edinburgh, said: "There is no recommendation to remove children's cancer services from any of the sites where it is provided and I can confirm today that none of the four units will be downgraded in any way.

"I am delighted to announce that the service will be delivered as a network across the four sites in Scotland.

"The innovative model will promote a uniformity of care that does not exist at present and ensure that care is provided as close to home as achievable."

Professor George G Youngson, consultant paediatric surgeon at Royal Aberdeen Children's Hospital, said: "This review takes a fresh look at the needs of Scottish children and how to deliver the best quality of specialist care.

'Very difficult'

"It has the aim of providing the best care for all children irrespective of their geography and the nature of their problem.

"For the first time in many years, we now have a national plan that places children's care at the forefront of the health service in Scotland. That investment should yield benefit for the health of all Scots for generations to come."

West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine MSP Mike Rumbles said he was very pleased that the Scottish Government had "seen sense" and decided not to move the health services.

The Lib Dem MSP added: "Fighting cancer is a traumatic enough experience for any child, without having to travel hundreds of miles for treatment.

"These proposals would have made it very difficult for their families to visit them as well."

It comes after news that all four of Scotland's specialist neurosurgery units are to be retained.

Neurosurgery is currently performed at hospitals in Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee.