Call to keep cancer surgery local
Bosses at the N&N are fighting to continue an important surgical procedure at the hospital.
Their chairman, David Prior, said: “There is a suggestion that liver surgery may be moved from Norwich, a move that we believe would be detrimental to patients.”
The Norfolk and Norwich University hospital (NNUH) is one of the busiest in the country for colorectal surgery, treating over 500 patients in 2009 – 2010. Around half of patients with bowel cancer go on develop tumours in the liver. Some can be operated on – a procedure which is currently carried out at the hospital. Liver surgery is also carried out, when needed, on patients who’ve been in traumas or accidents.
Consultation will soon begin on a proposal to centralise liver cancer surgery in one centre in the East of England, possibly in Cambridge.
Patient Alan Stephens, who also leads the patient group Together Against Cancer, has undergone liver surgery at NNUH. He says: “I have benefited from the excellent care available at Norwich and would like to see this service continue for other patients. It is essential that the two elements of the service – liver surgery and colorectal surgery – are offered together. ”
The public are being invited to attend a talk about the future of liver surgery at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital tonight from 6pm to 8pm on 14th September in the hospital’s Benjamin Gooch Lecture Theatre.
NNUH Chairman David Prior added: “”This talk will demonstrate the very good outcomes for cancer patients requiring liver resection surgery achieved at NNUH and the very close clinical association between liver surgery and colorectal surgery.”
One Comment to “Call to keep cancer surgery local”
Comment
Yes this is ridiculous. Patietns have been shown to have better outcomes at NNUH but government directives say that regions should be divided into networks where only one centre performs the surgery…Cambridge does transplant surgery so wants to be the liver centre. Norwich has better accessibility to the Eastern region and has better outcomes. If the NNUH loses this vital service patients will have to travel to Cambridge for surgery…this has massive implications for the patient, family and friends.