JEREMY Hunt MP has written to Guildford and Waverley Primary Care Trust to ask them how they plan to address the provision of palliative care when King Edward VII Hospital in Midhurst closes later this week. The hospital, which has been run by a charitable trust for the past few years, went into liquidation last week. It will be closing its doors for the final time on Friday.The closure will have a severe impact on Macmillan Cancer Care which currently operates its services from the Midhurst hospital.Mr Hunt believes the PCT needs to work closely with Macmillan to ensure cancer patients which currently rely on the palliative care they receive through King Edward VII is not lost.Mr Hunt said: “I am very concerned for cancer patients locally who may rely on services from Macmillan. At the moment, the Macmillan services are hanging in the balance as the charity will effectively have nowhere to go from Friday. Something needs to happen fast so I have written to the PCT to ask them to take immediate action. “The PCT needs to ensure that the services Macmillan currently provides are not lost completely.“The closure of King Edward VII Hospital will be a real loss the community as it performs thousands of operations each year, both privately and on the NHS. There is no doubt the closure will put a further major strain on health care in our area.”Midhurst Macmillan Cancer Relief operates the Macmillan Midhurst Service at the King Edward VII hospital. The unit includes a 12-bedded in-patient care centre, a Macmillan Community Nursing team, a Bereavement Service and support volunteers. This unit is fully funded by Macmillan Cancer Relief and the NHS.