AS patients and staff comes to terms with the closure of King Edward VII Hospital om Midhurst earlier this month, a ray of light has come with the news that the Macmillan Cancer Care will continue to help local people as part of a new service. The battle to save the Macmillan cancer unit started as soon as the announcement was made of the hospital's closure. The King Edward's Macmillan unit hs been a lifeline to sufferers for almost 30 years. It was announced this week that Dr Peter Hargreaves and his team of specialist community palliative care staff are now employed by Western Sussex Primary Care Trust (PCT). Discussions continue between the PCT and Macmillan on how the existing specialist palliative care service can continue to provide community- based care for around 200 patients. It is also looking at its development in the longer term, to meet the needs of the local PCT populations in West Sussex, Hampshire and Surrey. Claire Holloway, chief executiv of West Sussex PCT, said: "It was a real shame to see King Edward's close, but one good thing to come out of the hospital's closure is the opportunity for the PCT to work jointly with Macmillan Cancer Relief to develop local services. "The existing specialist community palliative care service is already assured and we are working towards developing a more innovative, quite ground-breaking service for the longer term. The Macmillan team will be working closely with the PCT's highly regarded Intensive Care at Home"service." Macmillan's regional director, Jeff Faulkner, added "We had an opportunity to share some of our ideas for the future with volunteers and supporters who attended a meeting at The Grange in Midhurst on Monday. "We cannot overestimate the importance of our fundraising activities, particularly to support the new ways in which Macmillan staff, working with colleagues in health and social care, will be able to provide specialist palliative care in patients' own homes. "People have told us that they want to be cared for in their own homes for as long as possible, and our plans for developing local services will help them to do just that." Sara Weech, the PCT's director of planning, partnerships and commissioning, said: "We have agreed to relocate the Macmillan team to the Midhurst Community Hospital, where they will share a base with the PCT's Intensive Care at Home staff. "By working closely together, we hope to keep any potential disruption for Macmillan patients to an absolute minimum. Our thanks go to everyone who has got involved. There has been a marvellous response, which has helped us resolve a very difficult situation within a very short time period." The Macmillan clinical nurse specialist team added: "Inevitably, there will be changes, but we're all very excited about the different ways of working that the PCT is enabling. Of course we will miss our colleagues and friends at King Edward's, but caring for patients is everyone's priority and we are really pleased that we are able to continue helping local people." In the meantime, the mammoth task of packing up and storing some 200,000 medical records from the hospital continues, with most of the staff remaining on site until the important work of archiving the material so that it is safe and secure, but accessible. Medical notes of patients treated at the hospital under the NHS will be returned to their respective hospital trusts, or, in some cases, to GPs, while the records of private patients will be returned to their consultants. Last week, all 300 members of staff, including those who work part-time, were handed redundancy notices. Shay Bannon, business restructuring partner for provisional liquidators BDO Stoy Hayward, said "It was very sad that we had to make these redundancies at the hospital. We are extremely disappointed that Lincoln Holdings and Capio Healthcare were unable to reach an agreement over the future of the new hospital facility. "This has been a very difficult time for staff, some of whom have worked at the hospital for more than 30 years." And public relations officer Tricia Saunders said: "People are working terribly hard, and the morale is incredible. It is a job that has to be done," she said. "There is a lot of decommissioning to be done before the hospital can close and there are going to be a lot of people on site." "I just feel the community at large is going to be the big loser." Multi-million pounds worth of equipment, including specialist state-of-the-art facilities for the hospital's cardiac and orthopaedic work, are included in the assets of the charity that owns the hospital. Following the final closure of King Edward VII hospital, an application will be made to the court for the winding up of the charity. Anyone who has concerns or questions about their treatment can contact Western Sussex PCT's patient advice and liaison service (PALS) manager on 01243 534035.
