I have this week written to the Chair of York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust to demand explanations as to why residents living in my area and in the neighbouring constituencies of Scarborough and East Yorkshire are receiving inferior healthcare services compared to people living in and around York. This is despite the fact that there are more people living in rural areas and smaller urban settlements than there are in the whole of York.
In my letter to Susan Symington I wrote “The present configuration of services appears to have an unacceptable bias towards York. This results in considerable, expensive and time-consuming journeys to York even for the most brief and routine appointments or to visit relatives. The present situation which now often requires expensive day long round trip journeys, often on public transport and even involving overnight hotel accommodation for some, is not acceptable”.
Since York Trust took over the responsibility for health care services on the East Coast, there has been a significant diminution in the provision of services and continuing uncertainty about the future of Scarborough hospital. The recent decision to centralise the breast oncology outpatient service to York hospital means that the 665 oncology patents who attend Scarborough hospital every year for treatment now have to travel to York. I have one constituent who is recovering from a bowel cancer operation and who is still unable to sit down, but who nevertheless has to make a 60 minute journey from his home to York for treatment whilst experiencing excruciating pain.
The centralization of the oncology service follows the closure of the pain clinic, dermatology, the eye clinic and physiotherapy in Scarborough. I have asked Mrs Symington to provide details of current services provided at Malton, Scarborough, Bridlington and Whitby hospital and those that can be expected to be in place in five years time.
I stressed that the quality of access is a statutory obligation and that it is important that they deliver a system that is fair to all, even if delivery is more expensive in places such as Ryedale or Scarborough. I have raised the matter in Parliament this week when I told the House that “These are not cuts, but a contrived centralisation by the Trust in York”. I am now seeking an urgent meeting with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Matthew Hancock MP, and a full written response from the York Trust. Following this, I will continue to work with and campaign alongside Scarborough MP Robert Goodwill to return and retain a full range of services at Scarborough.
