Somerset NHS trust steps-in to save private cancer centre

Somerset NHS Foundation Trust has stepped-in to run a cancer diagnostics centre after its owner went into liquidation.

The private oncology centre was run by Rutherford Health, which also had bases in Bedlington, Newport, Reading and Liverpool.

It said it went into liquidation due to the number of people it treated dropping during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Trust said it would run the centre on a "short-term basis".

Peter Lewis, the trust's chief executive, said he was "delighted" the centre would remain open.

"This means that NHS patients in Somerset will continue to have diagnostic tests at the centre and we will continue to reduce patient waiting times," he added.

Mr Lewis said the site, renamed the Taunton Diagnostic Centre, would be closed on 10 and 13 June and would reopen on 14 June.

He said any patients who might be affected would be contacted.

"The centre has made a real difference to our ability to scan patients quickly," he said.

"Since it opened at the end of September last year, the percentage of NHS patients in Somerset who are waiting longer than the national standard for a diagnostic test has reduced considerably," he added.

Rutherford Health's interim chief executive officer, Sean Sullivan, said Covid had led to "extremely challenging trading conditions".

"Covid has been damaging for us as fewer patients were presenting with cancer side effects during lockdowns...this meant fewer patients were presenting to our centres.

"We made several offers to the NHS [for not-for-profit contracts] and whilst we secured some, they were insufficient," he added.

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