CALVARY Mater Newcastle general manager Colin Osborne has strongly defended moving melanoma clinics from the NBN Telethon Mater Institute to the main hospital, saying there were numerous "documented" problems with the way the unit operated.

"I am not questioning the work of the doctors there but there have been a substantial number of internal staff grievances and documented evidence of non-compliance with professional nursing standards and hospital policy," Mr Osborne said.

He confirmed he had made the changes without consulting the staff involved and said it had been "signed off on by the hospital board".

"Sometimes the need for action is more important than the need for consultation," Mr Osborne said.

He said the clinics were being moved into the new main Mater building to allow "a greater level of supervision of staff".

Other melanoma unit functions including research would stay in the Telethon building, along with the breast cancer unit.

Mr Osborne was responding to complaints about the changes from patients and from a retired founder of the unit, Dr Bob Sillar.

In letters to The Herald, Dr Sillar said the Telethon building was built with mainly donated funds for melanoma and breast-screening purposes and should stay that way.

Yesterday, Dr Sillar agreed that "some nursing practices needed to be changed" but he said this could be done without moving the clinics to the main hospital and leaving the rest of the melanoma functions in the Telethon building.

"They are dislocating a cohesive unit and cutting back from four consulting rooms to two or three in the other place," Dr Sillar said.

Mr Osborne said the Mater had "inherited" the melanoma unit after Wallsend Hospital closed.

The melanoma unit had moved into the Telethon building and while it was part of the Mater campus it tended to operate on its own.

Mr Osborne said three previous attempts to reform the melanoma unit had "met with only minor improvements" which disappeared once "the supervision was removed".