CONCERNS have been raised that several cancer services at East Lancashire’s hospitals appear to be falling short of the quality standards set by the NHS.

East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust (ELHT) has admitted nine of its specialised services are ‘non compliant’ with NHS England standards, which go beyond the quality and safety standards regulated by the Care Quality Commission.

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It comes after the Health Services Journal (HSJ) published data suggesting only a quarter of the trust’s specialised services were ‘compliant’ – making it one of the worst performing trusts in the country on these measures.

ELHT, which was released from special measures in the summer, said the published information was not correct.

However, bosses conceded that nine out of its 19 specialised services had been issued ‘derogations’, which allow them to continue services while improvements are made.

It refused to name these services, but the latest data published by NHS England suggests they include specialist treatment for kidney, bladder and prostate cancers, adult head and neck cancer and chemotherapy.

The adult pancreatic cancer service also has a ‘commissioner derogation’, meaning there are reasons beyond the trust’s control for failing to meet the standard.

The HSJ did not suggest the services are unsafe.

But it did say that the services could be vulnerable to closure in the event of regional service mergers.

Its data suggested that a third of specialised services in the North West had received derogations, compared to just 15 per cent in London.

Russ McLean, chairman of the Pennine Lancashire Patient Voices Group, said: “This is quite worrying because we don’t want to lose these services in East Lancashire or see them farmed out to private providers.”

Commissioner derogations have also been made against ELHT’s specialised services for HIV, severe asthma, neo-natal critical care and hepatobiliary and pancreas care for adults, according to the NHS England data.

Specialised vascular services are also listed, which may relate to delays in establishing the Royal Blackburn Hospital as a regional ‘centre of excellence’.

Martin Hodgson, the director of service development at ELHT, said: “We understand the information in this database is currently being reviewed for a further publication in November, where we hope a more accurate picture will be presented.

“We will work hard with our colleagues from specialist commissioning to ensure we meet the various requirements of the service specifications, which include things like size of population served and numbers of procedures undertaken, as quickly as possible.

“We would like to reassure our patients that any non-compliant services are safe.”