CHILDREN who need to visit medical specialists could soon be seen much closer to home as experts from one of the country’s top hospitals plan on bringing their expertise to Cumbria.

Doctors from the Great North Children’s Hospital in Newcastle are to offer their specialist services to people in north and west Cumbria as part of a new agreement struck between health trust bosses.

It means that children who need to seek specialist services will be able to access them without travelling long distances.

Specialists from the hospital could run a series of local clinics in the county following talks between the newly-appointed chief executive of North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust Stephen Eames and Sir Leonard Fenwick, chief executive of the Newcastle upon Tyne NHS Foundation Trust.

The announcement comes as our sister title, The Cumberland News , revealed north east-based trust was ready to help patients in north and west Cumbria.

The Great North Children’s Hospital is one of only 14 major children’s centres in the UK and provides a full range of services.

Specialists there see patients from across the UK as well as those from abroad and is nationally accredited in many areas including diabetes, oncology, renal and rheumatology.

Mr Eames stated that he wants a much stronger partnership with services in Newcastle upon Tyne.

He said: “One of my key priorities when I started with the trust three weeks ago was to forge close relationships with partner organisations to ensure we can offer our patients as many specialised services as possible close to their homes.

“The Great North Children’s Hospital is world-renowned for providing some of the best specialised children’s services and it would be an invaluable addition to the range of services already provided across north and west Cumbria,” added Mr Eames.

“I am delighted that we have the support from Newcastle hospitals to move forward with these plans and I look forward to sharing more information about this partnership very soon.”

Dr David Rogers, medical director of NHS Cumbria Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “The plans and discussions with Newcastle are at a very early stage, but the potential development of their services here in Cumbria is very exciting.”