Positive outlook for 'fragile' West Cumberland Hospital

Healthcare leaders in North Cumbria have promised a positive future for the West Cumberland Hospital.

Several hundred people are expected at a public meeting today (September 29) over concerns about services and patient care. It comes as a new hospital is being built in Whitehaven.

The University Hospitals NHS Trust admits that medical services at the hospital are 'very fragile' but reassure that the new hospital will:

• Continue to have an A&E department
• Continue to take the vast majority of medical admissions
• Continue to provide critical care with specialists looking after the seriously ill
• Provide access to more local services
• Outpatients appointments are to be brought back to West Cumbria with access to a wider variety of specialists
• Carry out more operations with more theatres
• Care for hundreds more people choosing their local hospital for routine operations and procedures