HEALTH secretary Jeremy Hunt has been accused of snubbing west Cumbria following a secret visit to Carlisle.

Campaigners fighting to save services - including consultant-led maternity - have long been calling on Mr Hunt to visit the West Cumberland Hospital and experience the 40-mile journey along the A595 from the Cumberland Infirmary.

It has now emerged that Mr Hunt made a behind closed doors visit to North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust on Wednesday, but only visited the Carlisle site, not Whitehaven.

Local health campaigners have reacted angrily to the news, accusing him of ignoring West Cumbria.

There has also been criticism that the meeting was kept quiet until after the event, and there was no chance for patients, the public or the media to speak to him or ask questions.

Lynne Davies, of the We Need West Cumberland Hospital protest group, said: "Jeremy Hunt has visited the Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle when it is the West Cumberland Hospital we are losing services from.

"Not only has he snubbed our campaign group, he has snubbed the community of west Cumbria who desperately need him to intervene in the chaos the Success Regime has left behind."

It is not the first time the health secretary has been accused of snubbing west Cumbria. Last year he was due to meet a delegation of local campaigners in London, but cancelled at short notice.

Mr Hunt will soon have to make a key ruling on the future of maternity services in west Cumbria following a referral by the Cumbria Health Scrutiny Committee to the secretary of state.

Activists say Wednesday's visit would have been the "perfect opportunity" to get to grips with local geography.

The hospital trust said the meeting - which saw Mr Hunt meet hospital managers and about 50 staff - was to talk about improvements that have been made to patient safety.

The visit was part of a wider tour of health trusts in the North West, with the health secretary - alongside Jane Cummings, chief nursing officer at NHS England - also visiting hospitals in Lancaster and Blackpool that same day. It featured staff from across the trust as well as Copeland MP Trudy Harrison and Carlisle MP John Stevenson.

But Carlisle's Helen Davison, of Cumbria Health Campaigns Together, said it wasn't good enough.

"How dare he come to Cumbria and hide away from the public? Why wasn't he available to meet with patients and the public to answer their concerns?" she said.

"And why, when he was here to talk about patient safety, didn't he go to the West Cumberland to properly understand the journey people are going to end up having to make if services are removed?"

The trust said more than 50 members of staff from a variety of roles met with Mr Hunt and Ms Cummings "to hear their personal reflections on patient safety and key priorities for the coming months".

The trust’s nursing and medical directors, Maurya Cushlow and Dr Rod Harpin, gave presentations and staff were given the opportunity to ask questions, including on workforce and recruitment.

A statement from Mr Hunt, who faced angry protests when he visited a hospital in Southport earlier this week, added: "It was a pleasure to meet staff and hear about their success in exiting special measures.

"Everyone at the trust should be proud about the impact of their greater focus on patient safety, including their very encouraging progress on avoiding never events and reducing falls and pressure ulcers.

"Their sterling work is a vital contribution towards achieving my ambition of making the NHS the safest healthcare system in the world."

But local campaigners accused him of ignoring serious concerns about the future of local services by keeping the visit secret.

Robert Charlesworth, also of Cumbria Health Campaigns Together, said: "It's disgusting that he hasn't been to the West Cumberland Hospital at all, and hasn't met any of the local health campaign groups. You have to ask yourself why."

Fellow NHS campaigner and Labour party activist Suzanne Kelsey added: "I was very surprised and somewhat disappointed to learn that Jeremy Hunt paid a secret visit to the Cumberland Infirmary to meet with the management and Conservative MPs.

"Health campaigners across the county, who are doing their best to save our vital local services, were not aware of this visit and unable to pose questions about their ongoing serious concerns.

"However, I am somewhat taken aback when he is quoted as saying it is his ambition to make the NHS the safest healthcare system in the world, when there are obviously growing concerns from many. This was a great opportunity missed, as those who suffer the consequences of the current radical and costly reforms should have had a voice."

Helen Ray, deputy chief executive at the hospital trust, said: “We were delighted to welcome the secretary of state for health and the chief nursing officer and share with them and our local MPs the positive changes and developments that our staff have made to ensure that safety is at the heart of all we do."