Bedfordshire: Specialist cancer service awaiting funding

NHS England and Improvement, East of England said it wanted to provide more care closer to where people lived

A specialist cancer service for patients could open in the next five years if funding is secured soon, a meeting was told.

Luton Borough councillors heard the development involved moving out of Mount Vernon Cancer Centre at Northwood to near Watford General Hospital.

The plans have been drawn up by NHS England and Improvement, East of England.

It said it wanted to provide more care closer to where people lived.

The council's scrutiny health and social care review group was told the timeline for opening depended on capital funding for the project being secured shortly, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

'Urgent changes needed'

Jessamy Kinghorn, NHS England and Improvement's head of partnerships and engagement for the East of England, said people living in Luton with suspected cancer were currently likely to be referred to the Luton and Dunstable Hospital for a diagnosis, before being sent on to the Mount Vernon Cancer Centre.

NHS England is leading a review of services at the centre, which treats about 600 patients a year from Luton.

Ms Kinghorn said: "An independent clinical review suggested urgent changes are needed, including the immediate appointment of some extra staff and restricting admissions."

The medium-term recommendation was the centre should be run by a specialist cancer hospital, she said, and added that University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH) had been appointed as the preferred provider of the service in the future.

"The long-term recommendation is the cancer centre should move to an acute site, with Watford General Hospital as the most appropriate location - UCLH expressed an interest to fund that," she said.

"All of this is dependent on obtaining capital funding.

"We won't get to consultation until a funding route is identified. If we got financial approval next week, we could be talking about 2027/28 opening."