Fall in coronavirus cases allows routine operations to restart at north Cumbria hospitals

Routine operations are returning to two of Cumbria's main hospitals.

Operations at the Cumberland Infirmary, in Carlisle, and the West Cumberland Hospital, in Whitehaven, were cancelled in March to cope with the Covid-19 pandemic - but a fall in the number of cases means they can now resume.

All operations will be carried out in non coronavirus areas and the private hospital helping the trust. They are now in the process of contacting people who are the most urgent first.

Dr Rod Harpin, interim medical director of north Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Trust, explained how important it is that people who need their operation have it: “We are extremely happy that we are able to begin to start our operations again.

"Thanks to the reduction in COVID 19 we are able to do this completely separately from any COVID areas of our hospitals.

"We are contacting people who are the most urgent first and are extremely grateful to our independent providers for their support in making sure we can support as many patients as possible and reduce any further delay in our patient’s treatments.”

Coronavirus: Everything you need to know:

• Check the number of cases in your area with our interactive map

• Listen and subscribe to our podcast

• All the coronavirus information you need in one place - from health and work to what you can do to stop the spread of the virus