Reading councillors last night unanimously urged NHS bosses to halt the privatisation of cancer scanning services in Thames Valley, which doctors are warning will damage patients’ health.

NHS England handed its the PET-CT scanning services contract for Thames Valley over to InHealth, taking it away from the current provider at NHS Churchill Hospital in Oxford.

Oxford University Hospitals (OUH) NHS Foundation Trust provides for the Thames Valley area of the NHS, including Reading, and is internationally-renowned for its cancer care.

Councillor Hoskin, lead member for Health and Wellbeing at Reading Borough Council (RBC), tabled a motion at Tuesday’s nights Full Council meeting, calling for NHS England to reverse the plans.

He said: “Doctors at the Churchill Hospital have said they are disgusted and very concerned.

"Senior consultant Nick Maynard said it will undoubtedly cause clinical harm to our patients.

“They may be cheaper but that is not the kind of risk we should be taking with such important services.

“Having the best expertise on the ground is absolutely essential to save people’s lives.

“A service that is internationally renowned will suddenly be thrown up in the air so a private company can have a go. That is not acceptable.

“Such specialist services, if lost, may never be easily replaced.”

Private firm InHealth beat OUH to the seven-year contract partly because it pledged to provide PET-CT scanning from new sites in Swindon and Milton Keynes, as well as Oxford.

Cllr Hoskin pointed out that NHS recently stripped its cervical screening contract from Capita, after blunders that led to nearly 50,000 women not receiving vital information.

He said: "This is the kind of problem you can have if you make a leap into the dark for a private provider that may be cheaper but is dicing with people’s lives."

Private firm InHealth beat OUH to the seven-year contract partly because it pledged to provide PET-CT scanning from new sites in Swindon and Milton Keynes, as well as Oxford.

Cancer specialists say PET-CT scanning plays a vital role in helping them diagnose the disease, track whether treatment is proving successful at shrinking tumours and guide surgery.

Councillor Simon Robinson said it is ‘clearly a wrong and flawed decision’ and would lead to issues in planning and managing care.

He said: “In the Thames Valley, the Churchill Hospital has a great reputation and is internationally recognised as one of the leading and best facilities for cancer care.

“Action should be taken to help protect the excellent service provided.”

Councillor Josh Williams added: “Bringing a profit motive into the matter of care for our fellow human beings is wrong.”

The council unanimously voted to press NHS England and the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to halt the privatisation plans.

Vaughan Lewis, Medical Director for NHS England in the South East said: “NHS England, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and InHealth have agreed to work together to deliver PET-CT services across the Thames Valley.

"This will mean that services will continue to be provided from the Churchill Hospital in Oxford, alongside new sites based in Milton Keynes Hospital and Great Western Hospital.”