Victory for Sick Kids campaign

IT'S the news young patients, their families and 25,000 people who signed our petition have been praying for – the retention of vital treatments at the city's Sick Kids Hospital.

Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon today promised to keep top-level children's cancer services – including brain tumour treatment, academic training, expert diagnosis and early clinical trials of new drugs – in the Capital.

The announcement came just weeks after a government promise children's neurology would not be downgraded either.

The Evening News campaign for the retention of both was launched last December amid fears that a national review could lead to services being centralised in Glasgow.

Any reduction in the level of service would have damaged the Sick Kids' status as a world-leading children's hospital and limited its ability to attract top talent, ahead of a planned move to new premises in Little France in 2012.

It would have meant added misery for future patients and their families who would have faced lengthy journeys for treatments.

A petition started by former brain tumour sufferer Ross Newlands, 16, of Ferniehill Road, and backed by the Evening News, gathered more than 25,000 signatures opposing the downgrade from across Edinburgh, the Lothians, Fife and the Borders. Ross, who was invited to St Andrew's House to present the petition to Ms Sturgeon, said today: "This is really good news and I am so happy that we have won. This will be really beneficial, not just to patients now, but also to people who get ill in the future, and I am sure it will make them happy as well."

A national steering group made up of leading health experts reported to Ms Sturgeon last month with recommendations not to centralise paediatric services, but to ensure they work more closely together.

Today, Ms Sturgeon said children's cancer services would not only be retained, but also enhanced in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dundee.

She also promised an additional £32 million to improve access to specialist services for children and ensure care is better, quicker, safer and closer to home.

Ms Sturgeon said: "I realise there has been a great deal of uncertainty over children's cancer services and I can now remove any doubts and allay the concerns of staff, patients and families.

"There is no recommendation to remove children's cancer services from any of the sites where it is provided and I can confirm today that none of the four units will be downgraded in any way. I am delighted to announce that the service will be delivered as a network across the four sites."

If services had been centralised, some children with complex and life-threatening conditions would have had to travel to Glasgow.

Lorraine Grant, 42, from Ratho, whose 11-year-old daughter Anna has been receiving treatment for a brain tumour diagnosed just before Christmas, said: "I'm over the moon. If Anna had to go to Glasgow she would not be able to see her friends and family. It would have been a disaster."

Kirsty King is another parent who knows what it is like to sit at the bedside of a critically ill child, praying they will be all right.

She spent six weeks at the Sick Kids in Glasgow when her son Shayne, now two, was born with two holes in his heart.

Cardiac surgery was moved to Glasgow in 1999, so the mother-of-five knew the dangers centralisation posed to parents.

"It's a struggle when you have to take them so far away," said Ms King, 33, of Craigmillar. "I collected over 1000 signatures, that's how much it meant to me."

Gillian Downie, 38, from Brunstane, whose two-year-old son Sam was born with a rare condition called caudal regression syndrome neurology, which affects one in 750,000, said: "Sam does not just face one operation and then it's done. He will have a lifetime of monitoring. That's why this is so important."

Joshua Clayton-Slow, now eight, wrote a letter and took it to Public Health Secretary Shona Robison urging her not to downgrade the Sick Kids. He became the first baby ever known to survive choriocarcinoma – a rare form of cancer he contracted at three weeks – thanks to the expertise of Sick Kids consultant Dr Hamish Wallace.

His mother, Gaynor, 30, of Bingham Crescent, said: "I am extremely proud of him. The letter was all his own words. He has been there, been through it, and now he is thinking of others."

Sick Kids consultants were said to be "livid" at the possibility of services being downgraded and, although protocol prevents NHS staff from publicly voicing opinions, retired medics were quick to warn the health secretary against the dangers of centralisation.

Today, one of those, Dr David Barr, a former consultant paediatrician at the Sick Kids, said:

"This decision is vital for the future of the hospital."

Children's cancer will be just one service to benefit from the £32m funding deal.

Malcolm Wright, chairman of the National Steering Group, added: "We have a commitment to build new children's hospitals in Edinburgh and Glasgow, supported by jointly commissioned paediatric intensive care units.

"We outline our proposals for national and regional networks of service across Scotland, supported by new investment of £2m in 2008-2009, rising to £10m in 2009-2010, and £20m in 2010-2011.

"These investments, which will be directly targeted at the priorities identified in the report – including children's cancer, cystic fibrosis, inherited metabolic diseases, rheumatology and general surgery of childhood – will help to ensure Scotland delivers European-class outcomes, with access as close to home as possible for families and children."

Dr Zoe Dunhill, clinical director of children's service at NHS Lothian, said: "We very much welcome the emphasis on excellent and sustainable specialist services for children in Scotland. We look forward to a close partnership with all the three other children's hospitals in Scotland to deliver the National Delivery Plan."

'This is fantastic news'
Ross Newlands, 16, from Ferniehill Road, who started the petition after having treatment for a brain tumour at the Sick Kids: "I am so happy we have won. This will be really beneficial not just to patients now, but also people who get ill in the future."

Kirsty King, 33, from Craigmillar, who had to travel to Glasgow when her son Shayne, now two, needed heart surgery: "This is fantastic news for children and parents. Edinburgh is the Capital and these services should be here."

Nicola Sturgeon, the health secretary, said as she made the announcement: "I realise there has been a great deal of uncertainty over children's cancer services in Scotland and I can now remove any doubts and allay the concerns of staff, patients and families."

Gillian Downie, 38, from Brunstane, whose two-year-old son Sam was born with a rare condition called caudal regression syndrome neurology: "This is fantastic news. It makes life in the future a lot more secure for us."

Victory for common sense
IN the end it was a not a decision that put the Government in a spot, but today's announcement that child cancer services will continue to be available at the Sick Kids will be greeted with a sigh of relief.

Unlike the recommendation to close A&E departments in Lanarkshire and Ayrshire which the SNP eventually ignored, on this occasion the clinical, political and popular view were at one and the potential for controversy evaporated. But the campaign mounted by the Evening News and backed by more than 25,000 readers was not in vain. There was no way of knowing what the clinical opinion would be and the campaign left Scottish Health Minister Nicola Sturgeon in no doubt that any removal of services would be bitterly resisted.

After last month's assurance that neurology was also safe, this is a double victory for common sense and it strengthens the case for the go-ahead to build a new Sick Kids hospital in the city. To all who backed our campaign, we thank you for taking the time to show you care.