The Southport and Formby Cancer Information and Support Centre is set to lose most of its support staff because of funding cuts. The service, which supports around 800 new people each year with counselling, social groups, and practical help, may lose its cancer navigator service.
Funding cuts threaten vital roles
The cancer navigator roles are funded by the local Primary Care Network (PCN), which represents GPs in the area. The Southport and Formby PCN is facing £420,000 in cuts from NHS England, which could result in the loss of four full-time roles. The money for these jobs may stop at the end of this financial year.
The centre said the cuts will have a “devastating effect” and put the navigator service “under threat of closure”. A statement from the centre said: “If the funding is withdrawn as the PCN have informed us it will be, then we will lose 70% of our staff team. With a remaining team of 1.5 staff, we will not be able to provide the same level of emotional and psychological support to service users.”
Money redirected to GP surgeries
The money is now set to be diverted to GP surgeries to create more appointments. NHS England has said the change will help practices to “prioritise clinically urgent needs”. However, Rob Caudwell, director of the Southport and Formby PCN, which represents 14 practices, argued this “doesn’t capture the full picture”.
He told the ECHO: “From a PCN perspective, that money going into practices is welcomed, but it’s to the detriment of something else. We’ve lost that funding, which could be used for a much wider type of service, and it’s gone direct to be used for one very specific purpose.”
PCNs provide some services to GP practices and fund other areas like care home visits, a pharmacy support team, and mental health workers. Some services are mandatory, while others, like the cancer navigators, are not.
Narrow view of GP access
Dr Caudwell added: “If you’re a smaller practice, you might get one half day a week extra of a GP, which we’re not going to object to, but you can argue: does that have more of an impact or less of an impact compared to something done across a PCN footprint on a much bigger scale? The government’s big thing is GP access, but it’s a very direct measure of GP access, through the number of appointments.”
He continued: “It doesn’t really take into account if we have other services surrounding practices that actually remove some demand from general practice, so helping access for everyone else. It’s quite a narrow view of GP access in terms of X number of GP appointments, and I think there’s an argument that that doesn’t capture the full picture.”
Heartbreaking impact on staff and patients
The centre’s manager Justine Shenton said: “We can take some of the work away from surgeries, because we can give people psychological support, which is massive. They might otherwise go back to their GP, but they don’t need to because they can ring us. We can also refer to physios, occupational therapy and dietitians, and recently we’ve been able to refer into the council’s exercise scheme, which is normally a GP referral.”
She said this saves a lot of time for GP practices, so taking away the cancer navigator funding while increasing appointment slots is “a quick fix now which will mean trouble down the line. It’s heartbreaking, because this is exactly what the NHS forward plan is about: care closer to home. Personalised care in the community is exactly what we’re offering. It’s sad; we’ve got such a great system going.”
Ms Shenton said the centre also has a small contract to provide a Macmillan-type information centre, but the funding changes will mean it goes from a team of eight to a team of “almost two”. She added: “All the work we have done to develop our systems, and our close work with GPs, that will go. We will support patients as best as we can, but it’s a very big resource reduction. It is also frustrating and heartbreaking for the staff who are highly trained and experienced, whose skills will be lost.”
Patient perspective
Kerynne Robertson, who has incurable breast cancer, told the BBC that the service was invaluable. She said: “All the navigators tend to know everybody, but there is one person you can go to at any point with any worry, however small. That person is there for you.”
Open-ended relationship
Dr Caudwell explained the role of cancer navigators: “A GP does a referral to a cancer navigator, having got permission from the patient, and they will contact them and tell them about the cancer centre, make some links, signpost them to either other services or advice. They act as a point of contact for patients. Often, it’s a new diagnosis, there’s lots going on, the patient doesn’t really have the bandwidth to engage too much at the beginning, but they’ve got that point of contact they can get support from in a month or two months’ time.”
Ms Shenton told the ECHO: “One of the great things about it is that it’s an open-ended relationship. The navigator can help the person right at the beginning and then might call back when they’ve got their treatment plan, ask them how it’s going, how they’re feeling. Some people have that ongoing relationship. They might have a couple of hour-long calls a week at first, whatever the person needs. We can help people deal with their anxiety, we can really help them understand what’s happening. Often people hear the news but they don’t take it in straightaway because it’s too shocking.”
The government is channelling more funding into GP appointments as part of its mission to improve access to primary care doctors, who have seen demand rise by nearly 25% since 2019. NHS England pointed towards a letter sent to GPs and PCNs in March, saying: “General practice is the front door of the NHS and we are committed to ensuring that it can continue to deliver for patients now and in the future. GP capacity is the most effective and sustainable way to improve access and patient experience of general practice, particularly in delivering same-day access for clinically urgent patients. In 2026/27 changes to the contract will support this.”
Southport and Formby PCN is expected to make a final decision by the middle of this month.
