Campaigners say NHS Trust still hasn't answered pathology concerns

The criticism comes after the Trust published a statement last month seeking to reassure patients that plans to move routine cellular pathology services to a new laboratory at Gadeon House in Exeter would not affect patient care.

The Trust said its current temporary histopathology laboratory at Torbay Hospital is no longer suitable for long-term use and confirmed it had secured £4.6 million of NHS England funding to develop a purpose-built laboratory in Exeter.

It said the changes would improve the safety and resilience of the service, while ensuring urgent and time-critical pathology work needed to support care at Torbay Hospital would continue through agreed local arrangements.

However, the Heart Campaign says the statement has failed to answer the questions many local people continue to ask.

In a letter to the Trust, campaign chair Susie Colley said the response "raises more questions than it answers" and argued that it focused on explaining the process rather than the evidence behind the decision.

Campaigners say they want the Trust to explain whether refurbishing the existing histopathology laboratory at Torbay Hospital was fully considered, how the costs compare with relocating services to Exeter, and why investment at Torbay was not chosen if it could deliver the same clinical outcomes.

They have also questioned what impact removing a core diagnostic service could have on the long-term resilience of Torbay Hospital as an acute hospital.

Mrs Colley said: "The public is entitled to understand the reasoning behind proposals before irreversible decisions are taken, not simply be told that an appraisal has been undertaken.

"I therefore look forward to receiving the requested documents and the evidence supporting the Trust's conclusions, so that the public can judge for themselves whether all viable options for retaining these essential services at Torbay Hospital have been fully and objectively considered."

The campaign is calling on the Trust to publish the full business case, independent options appraisal, cost comparison between refurbishing Torbay and relocating services to Exeter, clinical risk assessments and impact assessments relating to the proposals.

In its statement, the Trust stressed that the changes are "about improving how we provide laboratory services, not about moving patient care away from Torbay."

It said patients would continue to receive care at Torbay Hospital and that urgent and time-critical cellular pathology work needed to support surgery and other specialist treatments would continue through agreed operational arrangements.

The Trust also said it continues to work with partners across the Peninsula Pathology Network to explore how pathology services can be made sustainable in the future, adding that no decisions have been taken on any wider changes beyond the current proposals.

The Heart Campaign says it is awaiting further information requested from the Trust through the Freedom of Information process.