400 march to support West Cumbria Hospital Services

Just returned from the march to support keeping services at West Cumberland Hospital.

There was a good turnout of perhaps 400 people. When marchers arrived Castle Park there was a song and dance performance by local young people of a number from "Frozen" adapted to the need to keep our hospital services.

Among the speakers was retired consultant Mahesh Dhebar who previously worked at West Cumberland Hospital and suggested that the North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust should have "West" added to the title (it would then be something like North and West Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust.) It was very apparent that, despite the good humour of the meeting, there was strong and unflinching determination to make sure we keep services at our hospital in West Cumberland.

This means that we must #SupportOption1" to keep consultant-led maternity at WCH and support all other services.

March to support WCH this afternoon

Reminder: a march to support maintaining services at West Cumberland Hospital is being organised for this afternoon (Sunday 14th June) by the We Need West Cumberland Hospital group.

The march begins at the Whitehaven Market Place gazebo at 1.30pm and will then proceed up King Street, turning off at Lowther Street and walking to Castle Park.

Obviously one of the services which the march is supporting is consultant-led maternity - so anyone who wants to keep that service at West Cumberland Hospital should #SupportOption1 and support this march if at all possible - though this protest is wider in scope than just maternity and also supports maintaining all district general hospital services in Whitehaven.

Reminder: march to support West Cumberland Hospital this Sunday

A march to support maintaining services at West Cumberland Hospital is being organised for Sunday 14th June by the We Need West Cumberland Hospital group.

The march begins at the Market Place gazebo at 1.30pm then will proceed up King Street, turning off at Lowther Street and walking to Castle Park.

Obviously one of the services which the march is supporting is consultant-led maternity - so anyone who wants to keep that service at West Cumberland Hospital should #SupportOption1 and support this march if at all possible - though this protest is wider in scope than just maternity and also supports maintaining all district general hospital services in Whitehaven.

There are currently a series of reviews of hospital services in the county and it is important to show the NHS Trusts that we need to keep a full range of services in West Cumbria. A whole series of rumours and leaks are appearing in the newspapers and have had a predictable impact on morale at our hospitals. It is important to show the staff who work at WCH that we support them.

NHS Regulators intervene to support Cumbria's hospitals

Simon Stevens, the chief executive of NHS England, has unveiled plans for what he said would be a new ‘support regime’ for areas with systemic challenges in providing high quality healthcare.

The three trusts at which this new regime will be introduced include North Cumbria University Hospitals Trust, which runs both The Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle and Whitehaven's West Cumberland Hospital.

The programme is supposed to tackle both current short term problems and develop and implement solutions to long term systemic issues, so as to ensure high quality care is sustainable in the future.

There has been support for the move across the political spectrum.

The new regime is expected to involve:

• The introduction of a Programme Director to oversee any action taken
• A holistic diagnosis of the performance and strategic issues facing North Cumbria to inform a new tailored set of interventions
• A clear timeline for each phase of work
• New collective governance arrangements for oversight of the regime locally, regionally and nationally

North Cumbria University Hospitals Trust has been in special measures since 2013, though current bosses at the trust say that death rates have fallen steadily since 2012.