Closer radiotherapy call for hundreds of patients

A radiotherapy unit could save hundreds of cancer patients lengthy journeys, an MP has said.

Tim Farron, the Lib Dem representative for Westmorland and Lonsdale, has written to NHS bosses asking them to look into providing the therapy in Kendal.

He said currently, about 650 patients travel from Cumbria to the Royal Preston Hospital for the treatment - a journey which takes an hour each way from Kendal and more for those based further away from the town.

Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB), which is taking over responsibility for radiotherapy provision from April, said it would be "difficult to plan for" with "no operational capital currently identified".

Farron said he wanted to provide greater access to radiotherapy for people in the area and had written to the ICB to ask for a study.

He said: "I have written formally to the ICB to do an investigation into equity of access - it is a boring term, but essentially asks the question: are we being disadvantaged in south Cumbria because we have to travel so far?".

Farron said he had been trying to build a case "for years" for radiotherapy to be more easily accessible in south Cumbria.

He said: "Even from Kendal, which is about as close as you can get [to Preston] in the constituency, it is an hour there and an hour back, and therefore longer if you're travelling from elsewhere."

The ICB's chief commissioning officer, Professor Craig Harris, said a radiotherapy unit has been discussed "many times", according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Harris added the NHS needed to balance travel times for patients with "clinical quality and safety" and said travel times in Cheshire, Greater Manchester and Merseyside were "not too dissimilar".

He said: "We would welcome working with Mr Farron to see if he could support the identification of capital and revenue funding to enable us to actualise our desire to potentially provide services in south Cumbria.

"However, there are limitations and with no operational capital currently identified, this is difficult to plan for and this would need to be carefully considered as a part of next steps."

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