Groups representing midwives, mothers and doctors across north and west Cumbria have raised serious concerns about plans to remove consultant-led care from Whitehaven.

The Maternity Services Liaison Committees (MSLCs) have jointly called for the full risks to be made public.

They also set out strong evidence backing calls for consultant-led units to be retained in Carlisle and Whitehaven.

There are two MSLCs in the area, one covering west Cumbria and one covering Eden and Carlisle. They are made up of midwives, service users, obstetricians and other health professionals.

The two groups have now issued a joint statement over the Success Regime's controversial shake-up of the local NHS - specifically the option to remove the west's consultant-led unit.

If agreed, this would see many women having to travel 40 miles to Carlisle's Cumberland Infirmary to give birth.

The MSLCs raise concerns about the potential risks, as well as the implications the distances will have on both women's birth experiences and the ability to choose the birth they want.

The impact on the existing Carlisle maternity unit is also flagged up as a concern.

The west committee said it feel strongly that a full consultant-led unit is needed at the West Cumberland Hospital.

"Neither full consolidation (of births in Carlisle) nor standalone midwife-led unit (in Whitehaven) were acceptable or considered safe for the women of west Cumbria. Not having reasonable access to life-saving obstetric care was an unacceptable risk," it adds.

"MSLC members feel strongly that services need to be family focused. Concern was expressed that by sending women to Cumberland Infirmary, we are isolating them from their families at one of the most vulnerable and emotional times of their lives."

Related: Health chief: Whitehaven to Carlisle 'not that far' to give birth

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The Eden and Carlisle committee said its members "felt women were much more likely to enter labour in an anxious state if they knew they had to travel such a distance, or that emergency help was so far away."

And they question whether Carlisle could cope, adding: "MSLC members have raised real concerns about the impact of changes in maternity in the west on the service at the Cumberland Infirmary."

The MSLCs state that at present data shows outcomes at the West Cumberland Hospital are good, and perinatal mortality - deaths prior to birth - is currently better than the England average.

The groups set out vital evidence they believe supports the retention of two consultant-led units in the area.

The include a national report by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists from January this year.

In it, Dr David Richmond stated: "Geography should be strongly factored into plans for change with areas such as Cumbria protected."

They add that following investigations into high-profile problems in maternity at Barrow, the case was made to retain consultant-led maternity due to its geographic isolation.

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Finally the MSLCs refer to the National Maternity Review, Better Births, published in February this year. It makes accommodation for a "handful of small consultant units in the most remote areas of England" and state there is "no clinical reason why an obstetric unit cannot operate safely in a remote rural area with relatively low number of births."

They said these views need to be taken into account.

The Success Regime argues that recruitment difficulties make it almost impossible to retain specialists in the west.

The committees accept that staffing is key, but claim there has been "excellent progress" in recruiting doctors recently.

Ultimately they said: "The views of women and families must be listened and responded to. All options need to be fully risk assessed and the risks for our locality explained in plain language, as women need to be informed of risk when deciding where to give birth."