Community hospital chiefs have promised to look again at whether they can find a new way to save under-threat beds.

Those in Wigton, Maryport and Alston are most at risk, with bosses saying they are struggling to fill key nursing vacancies.

Cottage hospital beds in Penrith, Keswick, Cockermouth, Brampton, Workington and Whitehaven’s Copeland Unit also face an uncertain future as the Government’s Success Regime seeks to address deep-rooted problems across the local NHS.

Its preferred option until now has been to reduce the overall number of inpatient beds in north Cumbria by about 30 and consolidate them on fewer sites, making them easier to safely staff.

But League of Friends groups, working alongside local GPs, have now put forward alternative plans which they believe would allow them to retain their beds and address the wider problems.

One idea is to create nursing home-style beds, which potentially may not need the same staffing ratios as NHS beds.

Sir Neil McKay, Success Regime boss, met campaigners as he visited the county to address community groups at a meeting in Penrith.

More than 100 activists, including two buses full of residents, made the journey from Alston to protest outside the event. They waved placards in defence of their hospital beds and services, including a minor injury unit.

Sir Neil came out to address them, and promised they would revisit their plans to see if there was another way. Although he made no promises, he stressed that they were listening.

He added that Claire Molloy, chief executive of the Cumbria Partnership NHS Trust, which runs the hospitals, will now visit each site to talk to local people and see if the alternative plans could work.

staffing

She stressed that the bed cuts are not to save money, but address long running staffing problems. The trust last week decided to temporarily close some beds because numbers were so low.

Among the Alston campaigners were James and Linda Pease, both retired NHS workers, who are worried that the loss of hospital beds will have knock-on effects on other health services in the isolated town.

“It will be like a pack of cards. We will end up with nothing on the moor,” said Mrs Pease, a former occupational therapist.

Mum-of-three Lissie Sharp brought her children to the protest. “They are growing up in Alston. They need these services,” she said.

Lisa Hunt was in the hsopital for four weeks after breaking her neck, and said she recovered much quicker being near to her home.

The Success Regime wants to care for more people in their own homes, in a similar way to that proposed in the Closer to Home plan eight years ago.

Asked why it would work this time, Sir Neil said last time all the health and social care bodies were not working together in the same way.

This time, he said, everyone was committed to making it work.

The care would be delivered via Integrated Care Communities, bringing local GPs, nurses and other professionals together in the same network.