“I had surgery at Treliske in 2006 and I am still attending clinics.
My treatment has been excellent and the staff have been superb.
My family were able to visit regularly which aided my recovery.
If I had been offered the opportunity of treatment at Derriford I would have refused because none of the above could have been assured.”

“Last july I underwent a full stomach removal due to a tumour in the top of my stomach. The operation I had was carried out at Treliske Hospital. The treatment I received on Tolgus ward was first class. Mr Paul Peyser and his team carried out the operation. His daily visits was a great boost for me. Along obviously with regular visits from my partner Kerry and my father and brother, also after I started to improve visits from both family and friends. Without this support I am sure it would of been much more difficult. How would any of the above been able to visit me at Derriford on a regular basis irrespective of care I would of received. Cancer can be fatal as a patient I cannot stress how important it is that you receive everyones support at your time of need. I must stress again how vital it was for me to have daily visits from Mr Peyser. This would not be possible if this moves to Derriford. Please think about the decision to move to Derriford. Unfortunately as a patient I truly believe both mentally and physically it should stay at R.C.H. My operation was a complete success and cancer has not come back in this area. Sadly for me cancer has returned in my lungs and chest area and has been diagnosed this time as terminal. I am having a course of chemotherapy to hopefully prolong what time I have left. My treatment is being carried out at R.C.H. and sincerely hope long after I am gone this will stay at RCH Treliske”

“Patients with cancer need to have their families near them. A 4 hour round trip to Derriford does not help their sense of well-being at what are extremely stressful times. One lady I spoke to whose husband died of lung cancer said, "How dare they haul him all that way when time with his young family was so precious. I felt furious."
Of course we want the best outcomes possible but we also want it close to home to be with our families.”

“As an upper G-I cancer patient, I can speak with some authority on this subject. My tumour was in a position which precluded surgery, so I was in and out of Treliske for chemotherapy and radiotherapy. This was bad enough, but without the supprt of my family's daily visits, I would have felt unable to cope - and, as we know, a patient's recovery is affected by their mental state. I have met a couple of people who have had surgery for upper G-I cancer and their recovery has been long , painful and slow. How their families managed to put their lives on hold for weeks in order to support the patient I just don't know.
It is all very well for the PCT to assure us that it is only the operations which will take place in Derriford, but no doubt the clinicians and specialist nurses will gravitate to the 'centre of excellence' over time. As indeed will the pre- and post-operative care. The current plan conjures up the nightmare of being treated in two places, with all the possibilities that entails for administrative failings: too terrible to contemplate.
Treliske is already an excellent centre for all sorts of cancer care. Why shouldn't Cornwall have a designated 'centre of excellence'? Why should Cornish patients have to travel to Devon for treatment? Anyone west of here with a relative with upper G-I cancer would never be able to get to Derriford regularly, and if they lived on Scilly - well, completely impossible. Again, the PCT is assuring us that arrangements are being put in place for patients to stay in Plymouth - why bother, when we NEED, WANT, DESERVE and ALREADY HAVE an excellent centre here in Cornwall.
I survived because the upper G-I cancer care in Treliske is brilliant and because I had the support of my family. Don't condemn future sufferers to death by sending them to Derriford.
Lizzie.”

“I had to travel to Derriford a few years ago for gynaecological treatment, which wasn't invasive-it was difficult enough then. Since then I have had/ recovering from breast cancer, if I had had to travel all that way for my treatment, all I can say is it was really hard going just travelling locally with the TAPS services taking and fetching me, just to and from Camborne. I wouldn't even anticipate travelling to Devon-period. So I'd be dead!!!!”

“Perhaps the politicians should concentrate on ensuring that the transfer was done properly in the first place.

From day one the decision has been controversial and I am sure that those elected to represent our best interests are only too well aware of the extent of feeling amongst patients and the public on this issue. All we have ever wanted was the public consultation to which we are legally entitled.

With regard to the clinical input, the DoH tell us "there is no evidence that UGI Centres of Excellence do result in improved outcomes for patients. An assessment of the extent to which outcomes have improved for patients with upper gastro-intestinal cancer since the implementaion of the Improving Outcomes Guidance will be undertaken in due course, when data at a national level is available".

So lets have a look at the clinical evidence we have so far to see if these things are actually working, or not, before we create any more!!!!”

“Bill/David.
Two facts you should think about.

In the last full NHS year mortality rates for UGI at Derriford were over 5% and for Treliske 0%.

Derriford is not the best performing hospital as even the medical opinion referred to other hosp[tals at around the 1% mark.

So now where should the patient go to get "the very best treatment" t?”

“I'm sorry if I have caused you offence, David, but the "claptrap" you refer to is what the medical opinion really means. If I were a cancer patient I think I would prefer to listen to clinicians rather than politicians.
Perhaps the politicians should concentrate their efforts on seeing that, if patients do need to be treated at a distance from home, then the best possible travel and accommodation arrangements are available for them and their families.”

“I take it Bill you are not a cancer patient ? and not an Upper GI cancer patient? Have you any idea what it feels like to hear you spout this claptrap about people dying in Truro? You sound more like an arrogant Clinician who expects patients to sit quietly and just do what Dr. tells them to do.
I'm entitled to say where I want my operation carried out.and it certainly isn't in Derriford.
And I suspect Plymouth cancer patients would not want their operations carried out in Cornwall, would they?”

“It is sad to see Cornwall¿s five MPs playing politics with people¿s lives. All the clinical evidence supports the move of treatment for this one specific cancer to a specialist unit. Medical opinion, according to recent WMN reports, is unanimous that more people will survive Upper Gastro-Intestinal cancer if they are treated by specialists in this disease in Derriford rather than in Truro. Or to put it another way: more of the 20 to 30 Cornwall residents per year afflicted by GI cancer will die if they are treated in Truro. However this fact does not deter our MPs from trying to win a few votes by pandering to Cornish parochialism.”