7,000 back campaign to bring radiotherapy centre to Kendal (From The Westmorland Gazette)

7,000 back campaign to bring radiotherapy centre to Kendal

9:10am Thursday 22nd December 2011 in Lancaster news By Helen Perkins, Reporter

SEVEN thousand campaign signatures have been handed to health bosses demanding a radiotherapy centre for Kendal.

Readers of The Westmorland Gazette responded in droves to the newspaper’s Shorter Jour-neys Longer Lives campaign, which aims to bring a specialist unit to Westmorland General Hospital.

Many of the names were collected by Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Farron, who is also fighting for a centre to relieve cancer patients of long daily journeys to Preston.

Yesterday, Andrew Thomas, the Gazette’s senior content editor, handed our petition to health commissioner Ros Berry, who sits on the key decision-making board.

“This has been one of the biggest and best responses to a Westmorland Gazette campaign,” said Mr Thomas. “We hope health chiefs take this strength of feeling an board and decide to bring the unit to Kendal.”

The pressure is now on the Cumbria and Lancashire Collaborative Commission to meet public demand and organise a specialist unit to be built in South Lakeland.

“We accept there’s a real need for radiotherapy in Kendal, but it has to be sustainable,” said Ms Berry. “We have to convince other members of the board, who might want a radiotherapy centre elsewhere, that Kendal is the best place.”

Two hospital trusts submitted a business plan for a Kendal radiotherapy unit earlier this year, but it has been handed back for further development.

The University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Trust and Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust have been told to ensure the £12 million centre falls in line with funding guidelines. They are expected to submit a redrafted plan early next year, with efficiency ideas from hospitals across the UK.

Meanwhile, Mr Farron is planning a rally next March in Kendal town centre, to maintain the campaign’s momentum. The Gazette is supporting the march.

“It will be a long battle to convince the board to finalise their plans - a march will prove this isn’t a novelty idea but something that is really needed,” said Mr Farron.

Cumbria GP commissioner Hugh Reeve said the campaign response would have a big influence on decision makers. “Five years ago there was more money in the NHS for plans like these. Now, communities must speak out about services they need most,” he said.

Kirkbie Kendal School teacher Geoff Cater, 62, of Natland, survived prostate cancer and spoke out to back the campaign, which was launched two months ago. “7,000 names is an awesome response and shows the amount of people this issue touches,” he said.