Twenty hospital workers have been affected as the cervical screening laboratory in High Wycombe has been shut down.

Bucks Healthcare Trust says women going for cervical screenings at Wycombe Hospital - where the lab was based - will not notice any changes, but campaigners say staff are being "ripped apart".

A letter sent to Save Wycombe Hospital campaigner Ozma Hafiz, which has been shared with the Bucks Free Press, says the service has been transferred to Berkshire and Surrey Pathology Services.

Around 20 staff members affected by the closure of the lab have been "consulted", according to Bucks Healthcare Trust CEO Neil Macdonald.

Describing what would happen to the affected staff members, Mr Macdonald said: "Some are being retained to keep the current diagnostic services running, some are being redeployed within the Trust and some are transferring to work for a new provider".

He added: "The decision to review the provision of cervical screening was a national commissioning decision with the objective of streamlining the whole cervical screening process.

"The Trust did tender for the service but was unsuccessful."

Ms Hafiz condemned the closure of the screening lab, saying "another staff team of 20 will be ripped apart" by the move.

In a statement, a Bucks Healthcare spokesman reassured patients attending the hospital will not notice any difference in their services.

They said: "From November 25, cervical screening laboratory services across the whole of NHS South East region and Dorset will begin to be supplied by the Berkshire and Surrey Pathology Service (BSPS).

"The transfer of this specific cellular pathology laboratory service has no direct impact on patients.

"Cervical screening samples will continue to be taken in the Trust as usual and patients will continue to receive their test results in the usual way.”