Scarborough hospital patients say travelling for treatment 'a nightmare'

East coast residents believe they should have local hospital services and not be forced to travel to York

Patients are being forced to travel for treatments since two hospital trusts merged, campaigners say.

The Save Scarborough Hospital Campaign says a wide range of core medical services has been reduced or cut since it joined up with York in 2012.

Retired GP Gordon Hayes, from the group, said neurology and cancer treatment were among them.

A trust spokesperson said it remained committed to maintaining services on the east coast.

The York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust was formed with that goal in mind, they added.

Challenges created by recruitment issues were affecting all coastal hospitals, they added.

Dr Ed Smith, deputy medical director for Scarborough Hospital, said services evolved in line with medical innovation.

"While this does mean that patients travel to receive some parts of their care, it provides access to specialists and improves clinical outcomes," he said.

He added the trust was also in the final stages of planning a £47m investment into Scarborough hospital to create a Combined Emergency Assessment Unit.

The distance between the two hospitals is about 40 miles (64km), however patients and their families insist it creates unnecessary discomfort and stress to already sick people.

'You feel let down'

Lynsey White said her husband being treated in York meant a limit on the amount of time she could spend with him

Lyndsey White's husband Richard died in December 2018 from cancer which had also caused brain tumours.

He received treatment in York and Hull rather than Scarborough, which no longer has a neurology department.

"If he'd been at Scarborough he'd have been seen quicker, treated quicker and it would have been easier, especially for my son, to see him before he passed away," she said.

Mrs White said having to travel for treatment made everything worse.

"You feel let down and in some ways betrayed, because you expect if something is extremely serious the NHS will be there and give you the very best.

"We've had it taken away."

'It is disgraceful'

Doree Gallie can see Scarborough hospital from her home, but drives her husband to York for treatment

Dorree Gallie, 77, believes she has driven her husband over 1,000 miles for treatment for pain he suffers as a result of a fall.

"The pain clinic has been taken away from Scarborough and has never been replaced," Mrs Gallie said.

Her 82-year-old husband Alistair has rheumatoid arthritis , COPD and dementia and has had two heart attacks.

The journey for treatment is exhausting for the couple, who can see Scarborough hospital from their home.

"His legs go dead, I can't really stop the car when I am on the A64," Mrs Gallie said.

"Why should we have to do this? It is disgraceful at our ages."

'Absolute nightmare'

Andy Williams recalls being rushed to York by ambulance for treatment he once could have got in Scarborough

Andy Williams, 58, is well aware of what travelling between York and Scarborough in an ambulance is like, having made the journey numerous times.

"You feel every bump, you can't move, you can't get comfortable, it is an absolute nightmare."

Mr Williams has had serious health problems after being diagnosed with coronavirus and placed in an induced coma at Scarborough hospital in 2020.

He was unconscious for four weeks and also suffered a stroke. Afterwards he needed care and spent six months in a neurological rehabilitation clinic in York.

On returning home, he developed kidney problems and was sent back to York as Scarborough no longer has a urology unit.

"The whole system is wrong, its is lacking, there's no support, I was being shipped off to York, five times in total.

"They are quite happy for 40 patients to drive to York and back rather than one consultant to go the other way for one trip a day."

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