PATIENTS with head and neck cancer in East Cheshire will no longer receive treatment from the area's NHS Trust.

Instead, residents will be able to 'choose from a number of specialist centres' in the Manchester Foundation Trust, North Midlands Trust, and Mid Cheshire Trust.

A spokesperson for the East Cheshire NHS Trust said the move would have multiple benefits, including: "Timely access to specialist care including diagnostics and clinical nurse specialist support, timely access to treatment — where required.

"Fewer appointments as one-stop diagnostics will be offered through neck lump clinics, and the full support of a specialist team for patients receiving a positive diagnosis."

Service changes will come into effect from November 2, and reflect feedback from a 64-strong patient consultation — according to the East Cheshire Trust.

The spokesperson added: "We heard very clearly that people want services that are 'local where possible, specialist where required' with all respondents agreeing that they would be prepared to travel further if the result was faster diagnosis and access to treatment where required."

The change has been triggered by the fact that the East Cheshire Trust is falling way below standards for waiting times in assessment.

In a presentation to Cheshire East Council's health scrutiny committee earlier this month, NHS officials said just 10 percent of patients were seen by the Trust within the 62-day target time in Q3 of 2019/20 — against a desired level of 85 percent.

Simon Goff, chief operating officer of East Cheshire NHS Trust, told the committee: "There is no one stop service - which is where a patient gets diagnostics all on the same day.

"Biopsies are not always up to the standards required so patients need to have it again. This is a key weakness in the existing service."

The lack of a 'one stop service' means there are no on-site pathology services — so samples are taken off-site for testing, and with biopsies needing to be analysed within 24 hours of collection, it results in 39 percent of all patients having to undergo the procedure again.

Officials confirmed that, due to commissioning arrangements to support the Covid-19 response, no immediate change to financial flows will be made.