15/07/2010

Robin Walker MP for Worcester has welcomed an announcement that the Three Counties Cancer Care Network has changed its mind on taking Head and Neck Cancer surgery out of the Worcestershire Royal Hospital and instead may allow it to continue in two locations.

The announcement came after the Government's white paper was published calling for decentralisation in the NHS and a move from PCTs to GP based commissioning. It follows a long campaign by local head and neck cancer patient, Paul Crawford, to keep the service local.

Robin is to meet with health chiefs in Worcester tomorrow to discuss the impact of the white paper and how it will work in Worcester but in the meantime he welcomed wholeheartedly the decision to keep head and neck surgery at the Royal Hospital, something for which he has been campaigning for years.

"Congratulations are due to the Worcester Acute Hospitals Trust and to Paul Crawford who has been tireless in his campaign to keep this service local. This is a victory for localism and democracy in our health service and one with which I am truly delighted. If this means that more patients will be able to have all of their treatment closer to home then I believe it will lead to better outcomes and less stress for patients and their families. This is an example of where a less centralised, more responsive health service can be delivered from the bottom up and I hope that the changes on which the government is consulting will lead to more of the same in future."