The number of people receiving treatment at a Fenland hospital has dropped by nearly a quarter in just one year, according to new figures.
North East Cambridgeshire MP Steve Barclay, who has been pushing for information on the number of patients receiving treatment at the North Cambs Hospital in Wisbech for the past few months, said he is shocked to see such a reduction.
Mr Barclay, a former Secretary for Health, said many people like him had been concerned about services being moved elsewhere.
He said he had pushed for the data at a meeting last month with Michelle Arrowsmith, chief executive for the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King's Lynn, which provides many of the services at the Fenland, for information on the North Cambs site over the last two years.
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"That has now come in, and it's really shocking. It shows more than a fifth of patients that were going to North Cambs have been lost in just one year.
He said there had been a 22% drop in just one year in the number of patients able to use the North Cambs Hospital in Wisbech for their treatments.
"This followed feedback from constituents that they were having to travel for treatments previously offered locally, with the extra cost, time and disruption this involved," he said.
"It's pretty shocking, it shows a 22% fall in just one year.
"The data on patient numbers shows a massive cut in local services. Whereas two years ago, over 70,000 patients were being treated at the North Cambs site, this has now fallen to below 55,000.
"This reduction in patient services locally has been done with no public consultation, no transparency, and is the opposite of what the Labour Government set out in their national strategy for the NHS, called ‘Fit for the Future’, where they said they would move services from acute hospitals into the community.
"This data has shown that the opposite is happening in Fenland. People are having to travel further for their treatment, which is disruptive, and it costs more, and none of this has been done in an open and transparent way.
"For example, more than two out of three patients for X-rays who previously attended North Cambs Hospital are now being sent further afield. Figures show a drop of 68.30% of X-rays at the Wisbech site.
"There are also over a third fewer ultrasounds, and a significant drop in the number of blood tests conducted at the Wisbech site.
"I requested similar data for Doddington hospital at my recent meeting with the chief executive of the integrated care board, Jan Thomas, which is due on Friday, and I will also publish this once received."
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