Plans to cut vital health services in west Cumbria are best on flawed population predictions that do not take into account the Moorside nuclear project, it has been claimed.

It comes as those behind the plans prepare to face the public in both Whitehaven and Maryport today.

The Government's Success Regime has drawn up controversial plans to transform healthcare in north and west Cumbria and plug mounting debts. They include downgrading services, including consultant-led maternity, at the West Cumberland Hospital and making more patients travel to Carlisle in an emergency.

But campaigners, backed by Copeland MP Jamie Reed, argue that their plans do not take into account the impact of the Moorside nuclear development, set to be built in west Cumbria.

Work to build the three-reactor power station is planned to start in 2019 and take until 2026. During this period the area is set to see an influx of thousands of construction workers, which those campaigning against health cuts argue will see demand for services grow.

The Success Regime argues that the number of elderly people in Cumbria is set to rise rapidly, but those of working age will drop.

But Mr Reed claims the data they have used is flawed.

“I dispute the assertion made in the consultation document that the total working age population of west, north and east Cumbria may fall by 2020, and that almost a quarter of all the people who live in the area are likely to be over 65," he said.


Jamie Reed “I sincerely hope that the Success Regime have not based their population plans upon flawed Office for National Statistics subnational population projections for England - the methodology for which does not take into account investments in the area, including the Moorside project, which will create jobs and increase the working age population.

“I wrote to the ONS in May to raise my concerns about their misleading projections, and I explained that they should not be used to inform the local planning of healthcare, education or other service provisions."

Mr Reed added that the wider vision for the area is to attract more investment, and build the working age population. This would result in more people moving to Cumbria, setting up home, having families and using the health services currently facing cuts.

“Here in west Cumbria, it is clear that our best days are ahead of us. We have worked for over a decade to attract important investments which will cement our place as a world centre for nuclear excellence and create thousands of local jobs in the process," added Mr Reed.

“We can expect our communities to grow and flourish, the population is set to rise significantly. The Success Regime must recognise this, and plan accordingly, and Government must ensure that we are given the resources and 24-hour consultant led services that our community deserves, to build the bright future that we are working towards. “Fundamentally, if the assumed population data in the Success Regime proposals are wrong, the entire exercise is flawed.”


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Annette Robson, of the We Need West Cumberland Hospital campaign group, said Moorside seems to have been ignored.

She claims that Success Regime leaders said at a health forum meeting back in march that their view was that nuclear expansion would only result in 1,500 workers. However Christine Wharrier, who represents Whitehaven on Cumbria County Council, said they have been told during official consultation that the numbers will be nearer 6,000. Some of these will already live in the area, but she said there are not enough local workers to meet the construction demands.

Mrs Robson, along with fellow campaigners, is now calling for evidence to back up the predictions used by the Success Regime.


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