Health minister Philip Dunne was put under the spotlight, when campaigners quizzed him over controversial proposals to overhaul north Cumbria’s NHS.

The Government’s Success Regime has set out proposals for local health services, which include closing community and acute hospital beds and transferring more patients from west Cumbria to Carlisle’s Cumberland Infirmary.

They have been met with huge opposition, and prompted the launch of our Save Our Services campaign, backed by more than 1,400 people in its first week.

Mr Dunne visited Cumbria yesterday to tour the West Cumberland Hospital in Whitehaven, before meeting campaigners.

He would not make any promises however about which services would remain, or even give a personal guarantee about safety.

The minister’s visit came as a retired NHS chief executive claims the Success Regime’s financial plan is deeply flawed.

One of the regime’s main objectives is to tackle a major funding deficit across north Cumbria’s NHS. They say the current overspend is about £70 million and that is set to rise to £163m by 2020.

But Robin Macleod and John Holland, of the Brampton League of Friends, say the plan set out to address this is flimsy.

Mr Macleod, who was a senior manager in the local NHS, said: “There are all sorts of efficiency savings identified but absolutely no indication of the detail on how these will be achieved, or indeed if they are practical in Cumbria given our current staffing, rurality and base costs.


Philip Dunne “In relation to the community hospital costs, I cannot find any part of the supporting documents which sets out the comparative costs of each option. How much, for example, will actually be saved by closing Maryport or Wigton’s beds? What are the follow on costs of providing that care elsewhere in the community? Have staff been asked if they are willing to transfer to community or district nursing posts?”

Mr Macleod added that all of the cost-savings identified are based on national comparisons, without taking into account the unique problems Cumbria faces.

“I have real concerns that these are just theoretical assumptions drawn up by statisticians and that they are not realisable in practice,” he said.

A Success Regime spokesman admitted that only basic assessments have been carried out to date and more detailed planning would be needed once plans are finalised.

He said: “The NHS has undertaken basic feasibility assessments on each of the options contained in the consultation document to ensure they are all deliverable should they be chosen.

“Of course, more detailed planning would be needed in the early part of next year once NHS Cumbria Clinical Commissioning Group has reached decisions on the future shape of services.”


John Holland Mr Holland, who was a senior commercial manager at a major bank and later a financial advisor, accused bosses of deciding what they want, then trying to justify it.

He added that without detail, the entire consultation is flawed – describing it as the equivalent of going into a garage and being asked to choose a car without any information about its performance.

“They are treating the people of Cumbria badly and underestimating our intelligence,” he added.

The Success Regime’s preferred options include reducing community hospital beds across north Cumbria and closing all those in Wigton, Alston and Maryport.

Consultant-led maternity would also move from Whitehaven, along with urgent stroke care and higher level paediatrics. Meanwhile the total number of beds across the Cumberland Infirmary and West Cumberland Hospital would also drop, from about 600 now to 500.