A PETITION against closing Ayr Hospital’s cancer unit has gained more than 7000 signatures.

With concerns from local residents, local councillors and MSP’s, the closure of Station 15 is still unclear and if it was to shut, patients would have to be transferred to Crosshouse Hospital, meaning patients and their families from Maybole and Girvan and the surrounding villages of south Ayr, would have to travel a further 18 miles for treatment.

The campaign, which has been set up on the website 38 degrees, is well on course to reaching its 8000 signatures target with it already receiving 7254.

South of Scotland MSP Colin Smyth has also called on the Scottish Government to intervene to prevent the Ayr Cancer Unit from closing.
He said: “Just as there is growing demand for GP services in North Ayrshire and Arran, there is also growing demand for other services, not least chemotherapy.

“That service has been under review since 2014 – in 2015, NHS Ayrshire and Arran completed an options appraisal that, if implemented, will lead to the loss of chemotherapy care at Ayr hospital, forcing local cancer patients to travel up to 100 miles for treatment in Ayrshire.

“I have been inundated by concerns form residents across Ayrshire rightly worried about any move to axe chemotherapy services at Ayr Hospital.

“This so-called review has been running now for over three years, yet despite writing to NHS Ayrshire and Arran on several occasions regarding the matter, they have been far from forthcoming when it comes to information on the review and there has clearly been no meaningful engagement with local residents.

“It is already clear that any attempt to centralise chemotherapy services and force people to travel 100 miles round trip for treatment they currently receive locally will be hugely unpopular and that’s why I have urged the Health Secretary to intervene now and block any such a move.

“After years of underfunding of NHS services, people understand that NHS Ayrshire and Arran are being forced into the unfair position of having to review services because resources are simply not keeping up with demand. But axing chemotherapy at Ayr Hospital would be a step too far.

“I would urge anyone who wants to fight to keep cancer services in Ayr to sign the petition online petition, lobby NHS Ayrshire and Arran and the Scottish Government.”

If you would like to sign to petition, it can be found at https://you.38degrees.org.uk