TWO Colchester consultants have voiced their dismay at plans to move an important cancer centre further away from the town.

Dr Bruce Sizer and Don Menzies oppose moves to relocate Ipswich Hospital’s pancreatic surgery unit to Addenbrooke’s in Cambridge, as part of a new centre serving the whole of East Anglia.

The two consultants say patients from north Essex will suffer because they will have further to travel.

Every year between 10 and 15 patients from north Essex are referred to the Ipswich unit for treatment for the disease, which mainly affects people aged 60-plus and has a survival rate of just five per cent after five years.

Dr Sizer, a consultant oncologist and Mr Menzies, consultant in upper gastrointestinal and general surgery, both work for Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust.

Dr Sizer said survival rates for pancreatic cancer were poor, because the initial flu-like symptoms made it difficult to diagnose.

For most, by the time it had been confirmed it had already spread beyond the pancreas, rendering surgery ineffective.

However, Dr Sizer said for those in Colchester who could be helped, surgery at Ipswich was the best option.

He explained: “We probably get about 40 new patients a year in Colchester with pancreatic cancer.

“Survival rates are still pretty poor, not just in the UK, but all over the world.

“About a quarter have surgery which gives them the best outcome.

“Our concerns would be the risk of scrapping the service in Ipswich before it’s clear what the capacity and the financing for the bigger service in Addenbrooke’s is going to be.

“It seems a pity to take that chance when it works so well.”

The East of England Specialised Commissioning Group has started consultations to set up the centre at Addenbrooke’s, serving 3.2million patients in the region.

Government guidelines state each centre should serve between two and four million people.

However, Dr Sizer described this figure as “arbitrary” and added the team at Ipswich was already performing enough surgery to justify the surgeons staying where they were.

Dr Rory Harvey, consultant medical physician and chairman of the Pancreatic Cancer Project Steering Group, said the proposals were based upon a recommendation from an independent expert review.

This had mainly been concerned with improving survival chances for patients with pancreatic cancer.

He said the review’s findings on the ideal population size to be served by such a unit meant there could only be one in East Anglia.

For information about the proposed move, and to pass on your opinion about the plans, go to www.escg.nhs.uk