Health Secretary urged to listen to families' and doctors' concerns over relocation of London child cancer services

Parents and doctors have voiced serious concerns about the decision to relocate children’s cancer services in London from the Royal Marsden to the Evelina in central London. Many worry that the move will impose additional strain on families and compromise the quality of care for some of the region’s most vulnerable children.

The Evelina, a purpose-built children’s hospital in central London, was chosen as the new site for the services over St. George’s Hospital in Tooting following a consultation process that has since been criticised as flawed.

Under the proposed changes, child cancer services would be transferred to a hospital that lacks on-site neurosurgery, a service critical to the care of a quarter of paediatric cancer patients. Medical experts, including the Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group, have warned that the new principal hospital will be the only site in the country without on-site access to this provision and it will lead to inequities in care.

Liberal Democrat MP Bobby Dean, Carshalton and Wallington, met with the Health Secretary on Monday to urge him to listen to the families navigating child cancer care and the specialists who provide it.

In a statement afterwards Bobby Dean MP said:
“Parents and clinicians share serious concerns about the impact of moving these vital services from the Royal Marsden to the Evelina in central London.

While new rules mean that the services cannot stay at the Royal Marsden, a relocation to St. George’s Hospital in Tooting has been the preference of all the surrounding local authorities and many local MPs.

The meeting was a good opportunity to raise parent concerns about the loss of expertise, lack of neurosurgery experience as well as the increased travel and the risks it poses to immunosuppressed children. We are expecting a decision soon.”