Campaigners are gathering support to save a specialist cancer care unit from moving from Worthing amid fears it will cut patient choice.

Proposals have been made to move the gastro-intestinal unit from Worthing Hospital to either Brighton, Guildford or Portsmouth under Government plans.

Ministers want to consolidate cancer services in certain areas to create centres of excellence of care in cancer treatment.

But the move has been condemned by campaigners wanting to retain the "excellent" unit, which performs specialist keyhole surgery.

Patients fear moving it to Brighton would cause hardship for those who cannot travel. And they are also concerned that limited parking and congestion in Brighton will heap more stress on patients.

Opponents have written to The Argus to register their opposition.

One wrote: "Lives may be lost because the surgery is not being offered in the Worthing area. Please reconsider this decision and value the exceptional expertise we already have."

Another wrote: "This makes no sense as we already have the equipment and the team to perform the surgery at Worthing. By transferring to Brighton, it is going to cause immense hardship to a lot of people."

The Worthing County Local Committee - made up of Worthing's nine West Sussex County Councillors -- is unaminously opposed to the plan.

Yesterday its chairman, Coun John Livermore, said: "We are extremely concerned that this will mean more health provision being moved out of West Sussex.

"We've already had problems with the A&E unit closing at Crawley Hospital and there are suggestions we might lose the burns unit at Haywards Heath.

Coun Livermore added that moving the unit to Brighton would create "organisational difficulties".

He plans to question the proposal when West Sussex County Council's health scrutiny select committee meets today at County Hall, Chichester.

Coun Livermore added: "No timescale has been given on these plans. But we will do all we can to keep this unit in Worthing.

"The Government talks about giving patients choice but if they are forced to travel to Brighton, Portsmouth or Guildford they will have no choice.

"It's a wretched plan by the Government to consolidate cancer services in centres of excellence but to the detriment of the people of West Sussex."

The health scrutiny committee chairman, Robin Brown, said the issue will next be discussed at a special meeting, likely to be held later this month or March.

He said: "We understand there are concerns but there are a lot of issues to be discussed and sorted out before any decision is reached. It's early days at the moment."

Peter Bottomley, MP for Worthing West, said: "MP Tim Loughton and I have been fighting this proposal. We believe that Worthing Hospital would be better qualified to judge what arrangements to make. We would like most of the services to stay in Worthing."