Fight to stop cancer unit closure

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Patients and staff have reacted angrily to plans to close a pioneering cancer unit at a Devon hospital.

Devon and Cornwall primary care trusts (PCTs) want to transfer the upper gastrointestinal unit from Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital (RD&E) to Plymouth.

County council health watchdogs asked trust bosses to explain why they want just one specialist service across Devon and Cornwall.

Surgeons at the RD&E have some of the highest survival rates in the country.

Doctors said they were dismayed at the prospect of losing the service.

Why change something that's excellent Brenda Taylor, wife of cancer patient

Angela Pedder, the hospital's chief executive, said the pioneering unit trained surgeons from across the UK and abroad.

"We also have patients referring themselves via their GPs from Stoke, Newcastle and Cambridge wanting this surgery which is not available anywhere else in the UK," she added.

But PCT spokesman Dr Kevin Snee said a single centre would concentrate expertise to deal with the number of patients which would allow them to deliver a world-class service.

He said a unit in Plymouth would be better located to serve the whole of the South West peninsula.

Patients' fight

Any changes to the service will not happen for three years, but councillors said there should have been a proper consultation process.

Following a meeting on Monday, GPs and patient groups will now be consulted on the proposals and trust managers will have to report back to the health scrutiny committee in January before a final decision is made.

Cancer patients who attended the meeting have vowed to fight to keep the local service at the RD&E.

Brenda Taylor from Seaton, whose husband is recovering from cancer of the oesophagus after an operation at the RD&E, told BBC News the proposals did not make sense.

"If we've got a unit here, why change something that's excellent," she said.