The chairman of an influential Cumbrian health committee has warned of a public backlash if controversial options to overhaul the local NHS are pushed through in their current form.

Neil Hughes, who heads the Cumbria Health Scrutiny Committee, made the comments at a meeting of NHS Cumbria Clinical Commissioning Group's Governing Body in Penrith on Wednesday.

The Governing Body is a group of senior doctors, health workers and public representatives who will ultimately decide on whether to accept the Success Regime's controversial options - which include downgrading health services and closing hospital beds.

To date almost 4,500 people have backed The Cumberland News ' Save Our Services campaign opposing the plans. Many others have attended high-profile public meetings or responded in writing.

Yet there is a growing consensus that decisions have already been made.

Mr Hughes - whose committee has the power to refer decisions to the Secretary of State if it does not believe they are in the best interests of Cumbrian people - asked Governing Body members if they "accept the likelihood of many members of the public feeling anger and alienation if all the current options are ultimately adopted in their entirety"?

Stephen Childs, chief executive of the CCG, stressed they will consider all the responses and alternatives put forward.

He told Mr Hughes: "What I can assure you is just how diligently we have been listening. We do not yet know what the end decision will be.

"Whatever the decision is, it will be a requirement of the governing body to explain why they have come to that decision."

Chairman Peter Scott added that all of the feedback will be independently analysed before decisions are made. "The CCG has been very keen to encourage people to respond to the consultation," he said.

Among the consultation responses will be three detailed plans drawn up by community hospital campaigners in Wigton, Alston and Maryport - where the hospitals are set to lose their beds under all four options.

But League of Friends groups in each town have been working with local GPs and community representatives to come up with an alternative.

Dubbed option five, the Wigton plan - which will be officially launched at a public meeting on Monday night - looks at how they can sustain health and care services across the entire Solway area.

This includes a new-build health centre combining 16 hospital beds, focusing mainly on local step up and step down care to help keep people out of the Cumberland Infirmary, and 40 residential care beds. There may also be scope for extra care housing, depending on the site.

It would form the base for a new hub, with health and social care teams working together both in the hospital building and out in surrounding communities, focusing on flexible care.

More detail about the plan will be unveiled at Monday night's meeting, in Wigton Market Hall, at 7.30pm.

Eveline Dugdale, of the League of Friends, said a lot of work has gone in to finding a workable solution that retains beds, and she hopes it will be given proper consideration by bosses. "I think it would be very sad, and the public wouldn't be very happy, if they didn't take it on board. It has offered them a way out," she said.

The Governing body meeting also gave Alston campaigners a chance to air their concerns. Alice Bondi asked what was being done to address "the inevitable physical and mental health breakdown of carers" if the proposals are accepted in their current form.

Chief executive Stephen Childs responded, saying the CCG very much values the "enormous contribution" of unpaid carers and would be looking for assurances that their needs were addressed.

Ms Bondi added: "What about the travel issue if people are going to be in hospital far from home? Children and mothers from the West Cumberland or people from the Alston Moor area - actually reaching the hospital to visit the person you have been caring for?"

Mr Childs said they were very much aware of the travel issues, and have asked for contingency plans to be addressed.

*There is just over a week to go until the Healthcare for the Future consultation closes on December 19.

Ahead of the deadline, The Cumberland News will be handing over all of the Save Our Services petitions to health bosses so they can be considered as part of the formal process.

We are urging anyone who has not already had their say to fill out the in-paper form and return it to us by next week or complete the petition online by clicking here .

Readers who have been collecting signatures on our paper petitions are asked to return them urgently so they can also be included.