CANCER surgery in Worcester could be saved as health chiefs call in a top Government health tsar to help decide the fate of the service.
A controversial proposal by the Three Counties Cancer Network (3CCN) involves creating a single centre for the surgery serving Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Gloucestershire.
The recommendation by 3CCN is that a “single specialist multi-disciplinary team” is based at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital in Gloucester instead of rival Worcestershire Royal Hospital in Worcester, although no formal decision has yet been taken.
The idea sparked outrage from cancer patients, hospital bosses and consultants in Worcestershire who felt patient care would suffer if local people had to travel to Gloucester for treatment.
Jan Stubbings, chairman of 3CCN and chief executive of NHS Gloucestershire, has called in the help of Government Cancer Tsar Mike Richards to look into the whether a single centre will be bad for patients.
The Three Counties Cancer Network Board will consider the outcome of the panel review together with the findings from the Mike Richards work, and any proposals from a dialogue between the two trusts before a decision.
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