This week (19 March) Unite members at the East Midlands Cancer Alliance Centre for Psychosocial Health (EMCA-CPH) will be protesting against plans to close a vital cancer service in Nottinghamshire.

When: 09:00 – 10:00 Thursday 19 March

Where: Outside Derby Council House, Corporation Street, Derby DE1 2FS

Workers at the Centre are rallying at the headquarters of the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Integrated Care Board (ICB).

This follows its decision to decommission the award-winning service that provides mental health support services and therapy for over 500 cancer patients across five ICB areas and eight NHS trusts in the region. 

Although commissioners from the ICB have said the East Midlands Cancer Alliance Centre for Psychosocial Health (EMCA-CPH) will be subsumed into Nottingham University Hospital from the end of this month, it has abjectly failed to protect jobs.

Unite members have been told they will be facing redundancy or will be “redeployed into alternative roles” with no information on what their roles will be or where they will be based. Meanwhile new patient referrals to the new service have been blocked and no extra money or staff will be provided, meaning cancer patients may be forced to wait longer for support and might not get it at all.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: "This shameful decision is seeing workers and cancer patients being thrown on the scrapheap to balance the books in the short-term.

"Taxpayers and cancer victims will pay in the long-term for the removal of this service. Our members at the centre have Unite's full support in their fight to keep the service open."

This centre is being closed despite it winning awards and being described by cancer campaigners as one of the best of its kind in the country. It has also regularly demonstrated that it is cost-effective.

Louise Beevers, a user of the service with terminal cancer, said: "It has enabled me to live the best life I possibly can with the limited expectancy that I have."

The confirmation of closure comes just weeks after the Labour government announced the National Cancer Plan to revolutionise UK care for the disease including better support for people diagnosed with it.

Unite regional officer Garry Guye said: "The future of our members' jobs at the centre remain uncertain and current patients will not get a like-for-like service, while future people with cancer in the future will be denied treatment.

"The ICB's actions fly in the face of government claims to support cancer and mental health services and to prioritise community-based services. Wes Streeting should immediately instruct the ICB to keep this service open and provide the necessary funds."

ENDS

For media enquiries ONLY please contact Unite press officer Natasha Wynarczyk on 07970081524

Email: natasha.wynarczyk@unitetheunion.org