Campaigners claim caesarean figures show 'lives at risk'

Campaigners in West Cumbria fear dozens of lives a year will be at risk if maternity services at the West Cumberland Hospital are downgraded.

Exclusive figures obtained by Lookaround show there were 38 emergency caesarean sections annually in 2012 and 2013.

A 'grade 1' emergency section means the baby needs to be delivered within 30 minutes because the mother's and/or baby's life is at risk.

Retired consultant Mahesh Dhebar says grade 1 emergency caesareans can be life threatening:

The trust which runs the hospital has published a series of options for the future of maternity at the West Cumberland. One option is centralising consultant-led maternity care in Carlisle. If that happens pregnant women will have to travel almost 40 miles to the Cumberland Infirmary for an emergency caesarean.

Laura Nichol was at the West Cumberland Hospital for a routine scan when she was kept in overnight because of high blood pressure. She ended up having an emergency, or grade 1, caesarean section.

The Cumbria Clinical Commissioning Group and the North Cumbria University Hospitals trust are waiting for the outcome of an independent review into maternity services across Cumbria before making decisions.

A spokesperson for North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust said: "We have been very clear about the challenges we continue to face across our hospitals in North Cumbria and now await the outcome from the independent maternity review."

The Clinical Commissioning Group said: "We commissioned the report to provide independent, objective and expert clinical advice to support the local NHS in making the best and safest possible decisions about future arrangements for maternity services."