A leading surgeon has warned that a major review of cancer services across the region could see Bradford losing out to Leeds in the vital treatment of chest and lung disease.

And consultant thoracic surgeon Alan Mearns at Bradford Royal Infirmary says that any moves to relocate surgical services from BRI would mean longer travelling distances for elderly patients and disruption of specialist expertise.

Bradford is one of only three centres in Yorkshire which caters for thoracic conditions which include cancer of the lung, oesophagus and windpipe.

But the review, undertaken by North Yorkshire Health Authority on behalf of all authorities in the region and in response to government guidelines on cancer care, suggests that thoracic surgical services should be located on a single site.

Mr Mearns said: "There are a lot of old people with cancer and I don't think these people should travel. We have got a lot going for us here."

Bradford was well-established in oesophegial surgery, he said. But with plans to transfer radiotherapy services to St James's Hospital, he feared Leeds would become the centre for all thoracic cancer surgery in West Yorkshire at the expense of Bradford.

A spokesman for North Yorkshire Health Authority said hospital trusts in Leeds and Bradford had agreed to work as a unit over two sites for the time being and that further reviews into cancer care later this year could alter further developments. No final decision had been taken as the review was still at an early stage, he added.

A spokesman for Bradford NHS Hospitals Trust said that BRI's thoracic service met national standards and that death rates were in line with the national average.

He said: "We do not believe that a service centralised on one site serving the whole of West Yorkshire is a practical possibility in the short term.

"Our view is that there is more to be gained at this stage from a fully co-ordinated rather than single-site service for the future of thoracic surgery in the county and we are currently talking to our colleagues in Leeds to explore ways of achieving this."

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