Campaigners who believe a new cancer hospital in Cardiff is being built in the wrong place say they are shocked to learn that no documentation exists relating to crucial meetings that took place eight years ago when the project was in its infancy.
A new Velindre Hospital is due to be built on green space in the north of the city known as the Northern Meadows. But local activists, as well as a large number of specialist doctors, argue that it would make better sense for clinical and environmental reasons to build the new cancer centre adjacent to the nearby University Hospital of Wales.
A spokeswoman for the Co-locate Velindre group said: “It’s undisputed that ‘clinical meetings and discussions’ in 2014 decisively shaped the direction of travel for cancer plans to serve the 1.6 million population of south east Wales. But these key deliberations are now shown to have lacked all official records and therefore any minutes, attendee lists or discussion reports.
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“In a recent Freedom of Information disclosure, Velindre University Hospital Trust stated that it did not generate any documentation out of these meetings. Not even ‘notes’ existed, so it provided none of the usual evidence needed to ensure the highest excellence and safety for a vast new programme.
"Throughout the NHS UK-wide, such groundwork always precedes a major service change. However the Trust’s disclosure means there are no records of how the meetings, for example, used the customary large-scale survey - or how it drew directly on the diversity of clinical standpoints across the region.
“Though devoid of the documents expected for securing such a record level of government funding, the meetings somehow steered home one far-reaching decision. They discarded ‘co-location’, the usual UK practice of placing new NHS cancer hubs at general hospitals. “Consensus prefers this model for patient safety, diverse specialist support, a joined-up cancer experience and on-the-spot clinical collaboration.
“Seeking to make good the gap exposed in documentation, the Trust recently pointed the Senedd Health Committee to its 2015 engagement with stakeholders. However, this exercise took place long after co-location had been decisively discarded and the main engagement focus had moved on to operational issues.”
A clinician member of Co-locate Velindre who wished to remain anonymous said: "The void in documentation now demands a transparent, independent investigation since the lives of cancer patients are at stake.”
Another campaigner who recently lost a loved one to cancer said: “How could politicians allow such a flawed clinical process to fix the cancer strategy for decades?”
A spokeswoman for the Velindre NHS Trust said: “There was no requirement to minute or record the meetings mentioned which, given the nature of the events, is not unique. They were facilitated by a third party commissioned by the Trust. The output has been available on the Trust website since summer 2020 along with other key documents.”
“Velindre Cancer Centre has delivered non-surgical tertiary oncology cancer services for the patient population of south east Wales since the 1960s. The possibility of co-locating services at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff was included within the work undertaken by the Nuffield Trust which reported in December 2020. The Nuffield Trust concluded that co-location would not be possible for some considerable time.
“It also noted an urgent need at Velindre, and concluded that the ‘proposed solution of a network model supported by a cancer centre focussed on high-volume ambulatory care represents a reasonable way forward’ and by implementing the Nuffield recommendations in full, the model would offer ‘a safe and high-quality service that provides a good patient experience’.”
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