By Cameron Blackshaw

A cancer patient says his children will not be able to visit him in hospital and claims his life will be put at risk if an NHS trust moves services to another site 40 minutes away.

Matthew Venner was diagnosed with stage four Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma in December 2023, and currently receives regular treatment at the Princess Royal University Hospital (PRUH) in Orpington.

But King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, which operates PRUH, plans to move cancer services to King’s College Hospital in Camberwell – around 40 minutes away by public transport or a 50-minute drive.

Matthew, who lives in Chislehurst, said: “Treatment has been tough. I have had nearly two years worth of various chemotherapies and new age technologies like immunotherapy, something called CAR-T therapy. I am nearing the end of all the options.”

The 42-year-old is severely immunocompromised, to the point his doctor advised he should not take public transport. Because of his condition, a simple cold or fever can have a serious impact on his health.

Matthew added: “Haematology patients are at a much greater risk of infection because the chemotherapy obliterates our immune system. If I get a temperature of 37.5°C, I have to get myself to A&E at the PRUH as soon as possible.

“Within four hours I need to have had various tests and be hooked up to IV antibiotics. This is for sepsis control because if I get sepsis, I am a goner.”

The first time Matthew was administered his current cancer treatment drug Nivolumab, he had a bad reaction and caught a fever.

He rushed back to the PRUH where he was treated at A&E before being transferred to the hospital’s Chartwell ward, a specialist inpatient oncology unit.

Matthew spent six days on the ward receiving inpatient care. While he recovered his family, including his two children who are eight and 12 years old, were easily able to visit and spend time with him in the Chartwell ward.

Trust says move will ‘improve care’

Last month, King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust announced it was considering bringing all haematology inpatient cancer care it provides together at King’s College Hospital and removing it from the healthcare offering in Orpington.

This means patients like Matthew would no longer be able to get the inpatient care they need at the PRUH. Instead, they would receive that care at King’s, in Denmark Hill.

The trust said the proposals are being developed by hospital clinicians “with the aim of improving care for patients accessing haematology inpatient services at the PRUH”. However, Matthew believes they are simply a cost-cutting exercise.

“I have not faulted anything, but now they are going to make it worse…”

The father-of-two said: “I feel let down. I feel disappointed. I stood up at the annual members’ meeting last month and I said the care that I have had at the PRUH and Denmark Hill under the King’s trust has been phenomenal.

“I have had state-of-the-art drugs. I have had brilliant nurses and consultants. My CNS (clinical nurse specialist) has been fantastic. I have not faulted anything, but now they are going to make it worse.

“I know they are going to make it worse, and they have got the audacity and arrogance to say ‘No, we are going to improve your care as a haematology patient’. I am afraid that is a lie. I am incensed.”

Distance and time ‘too big’ for children to visit

Matthew has supported a petition calling for the trust to keep the specialist inpatient haematology cancer care at the PRUH which is nearing 25,000 signatures.

If this care was removed and Matthew were to fall ill again, he would receive emergency treatment at the PRUH before being transferred to King’s.

He has taken issue with both the journey itself, and the fact he will be treated at a hospital a lot further from home.

Matthew said: “They have not taken into any consideration the discomfort of that journey. They do not know how much that is going to cost. Will that journey be in an immune, safe environment?”

Whenever Matthew was being treated as an inpatient at the Chartwell unit, his children spent time with him every day after school while he was recovering. Matthew said this would not be possible if he had to be treated at King’s.

He said: “They cannot do that if I am at Denmark Hill. The distance and the time is just too big. If they get told that they cannot see daddy until the weekend, that is really hard.

“If I get an infection, or dare I say it, next year it comes to end-of-life care, which could happen quickly with lymphoma, if that is not here [at the PRUH] I will have my end-of-life care at Denmark Hill.”

Matthew has also disputed the trust’s claims that the proposal would “support equity of access to specialist haematology cancer care for all Bromley patients”.

Whenever he has required treatment that cannot be provided at the PRUH, he has been transferred to Denmark Hill so he feels he already gets that equity anyway.

A King’s trust spokesperson said: “[The proposals] also build on existing arrangements already in place, whereby some haematology cancer patients from the Bromley area who require highly specialist treatment are already transferred to King’s College Hospital for this aspect of their care.

“However, the proposals are still being developed, and no final decisions have been made at this stage.

“We value Mr Venner’s feedback, and we will be engaging with him, other patients who use the service, staff and stakeholders as we develop these proposals.

“We are also grateful to Mr Venner for his kind comments about the care he has received at the PRUH to date.”