West Cornwall MP, Andrew George, has warned the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust that its "apparent decision to put pathology services out to private tender" would be a false economy.

Mr George said that there was an outcry at a public meeting at Penzance at the weekend, when 200 people heard from GPs on the panel that they had "not been aware of the plans and had not been consulted".

Adding that the threat to Cornwall’s pathology services could see lab testing taking place outside Cornwall, with the loss of skills and dozens of jobs in Cornwall.

Mr George wrote to Bill Shields, interim chief Executive of RCHT, a fortnight ago to raise his concern that outsourcing pathology services to a private company would damage staff morale and patient outcomes.

Mr George, a member of the House of Commons Health Select Committee said that the privatisation of pathology services at other hospital trusts across the country has been proposed, with Dorset County Hospital Trust "recently rejecting plans for privatisation of pathology" due to the job losses that would result from outsourcing.

Adding: “This decision could see up to 180 staff in Cornwall lose their jobs and cause delays in patients receiving critically important results. There has been no consultation with patients or GPs.

“This should be a major source of income generation, and should not be put out to tender. This is a false economy. Outsourcing one of our few money making hospital services to a private company makes no economic sense. We must put patients before profit.”

A spokesperson for the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust said: "At the January Trust Board meeting, the Directors agreed to test the market on three RCHT services - Pathology, the Central Sterile Services Department (CSSD) and the Cornwall Information Technology Service (CITS).
 
"This means exploring whether another private or public service organisation could provide these services with the potential for staff to transfer across to that organisation.

"The main reasons for taking this approach are to secure additional investment, support and expertise as well as ensure taxpayers money is spent efficiently in the NHS.

"All three services are coming to the end of a contract or agreement and it is a good time to make a decision about the future service model. At this stage the Trust Board want to test the market to consider the options further.

"It is clear that we will get the best results from this process by writing a clear and detailed specification for each of the three services, making sure we tell potential private or NHS partners our patient and clinical needs.  

"Staff groups across Pathology, CSSD and CITS have had face-to-face briefings in recent days and weeks and we want to make sure that as many people as possible who have a view on these services contribute to the development of the specification and provide challenge to the market test process."