Save the Chartwell Unit — Keep Inpatient Cancer Care at the Princess Royal University Hospital (PRUH)

King’s College Hospital has set out early proposals that threaten to close the Chartwell Inpatient Unit at the PRUH and move haematology cancer inpatients to Denmark Hill.

For these patients, minutes and miles matter. Transfers risk delays at every step – coordination, transit and bed-waits on admission. In emergencies like neutropenic sepsis, treatment must be instant. Additional plans to disperse these blood cancer patients across non-haematology wards at the PRUH would weaken infection control, limit access to specialist ward nursing and undermine care quality.

Relocating patients away from home raises travel and cost burdens for all carers - hitting older and lower-income families hardest – which reduces visiting and bedside support.

What we’re asking

• Do not close the Chartwell Inpatient Unit.
• Keep specialist inpatient cancer care local at the PRUH.
• Publish the evidence: patient-safety analysis, staffed bed capacity, transfer standards and access/equality impacts
• Commit to no implementation before consultation.
• Work with patients and staff on a plan to retain and improve the service at the PRUH 

Please sign and share. Every signature helps keep care safe, specialist and close to home.

Have a story, experience or view to share? Email info@chartwellcancertrust.co.uk (patients, carers, clinicians). Confidential; we will seek consent before quoting.

Read more: The Chartwell Trust’s formal opposition case to the NHS and Council at https://chartwellcancertrust.co.uk/important-update-on-the-chartwell-opposition/

The Chartwell Cancer Trust — principal supporter of the Unit since 2005.