Half of all Bedford GP referrals to Mount Vernon Cancer Centre come from a single ward

A report presented to the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Monday, July 15) said during 2023/24, 46 Mount Vernon patients were registered with a Bedford borough GP.

Twenty-three came from De Parys Ward, and 10 other wards each had between one and four patients.

Councillor Nicola Gribble (Independent, Renhold & Ravensden) asked if this was down to one consultant.

“It just seems to me if you’ve got someone who only ever, and has only ever, referred people to Mount Vernon, and never the twain shall meet, nothing else will cross their minds,” she said.

Jessamy Kinghorn, head of partnerships and engagement, NHS England, replied: “I expect it’s more nuanced than that, because if it was one consultant. I think the number would be larger because they’d be referring more patients. So I think it may be more related to a particular tumour site.”

Councillor Gribble speculated that it could be a cluster of the same sort of tumours, while councillor Dean Crofts (Lib Dems, Kingsbrook) added that it could be genetic.

“Because if there’s a big family unit in one area, and it’s genetic, they get a similar cancer,” he suggested.

Sarah Stanley, chief nursing director, Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care Board (BLMK ICB) said: “It seems like an anomaly, but it is worth us having a bit of a deeper dive into it.”

Ms Kinghorn said: “It might be word of mouth, and people saying ‘I had a really good experience in Mount Vernon, if you get cancer, that’s where you go’.

“We’re speculating,” she said. “But there is a significant drop, the next largest ward has four patients.”

Mount Vernon Cancer Centre is a well renowned, highly specialised cancer centre based in Northwood, Middlesex.