Jon Dale, Unite the Union Notts health secretary
A high-performing service for cancer patients in the East Midlands is being cut. Clinical psychologists, supported by Derby and Notts trade unionists, held a protest outside the Integrated Care Board (ICB) meeting.
The East Midlands Cancer Alliance (Centre for Psychosocial Health) provides invaluable mental health support to cancer patients. The award-winning service also trains other health workers treating cancer patients, and is doing important research – all for the tiny cost, in NHS terms, of £950,000 a year.
The ICB claims the service is not being closed, but just moved to other providers. These are already overloaded and underfunded existing mental health services, and in Leicestershire a charity. The specialist psychologists are threatened with redundancy.
The protest was organised by Unite the Union Nottinghamshire health branch. Pressure is building on the region’s MPs to demand Labour health secretary Wes Streeting, who claims to prioritise cancer and mental health services, to instruct the ICB to reverse this decision.
