A review of mental health beds across Cumbria has been delayed until after summer 2018.

It will look at how inpatient beds - including those in Carlisle, Barrow, Whitehaven and Kendal - can be best configured to best meet the needs of the county's population.

It had been expected to take place this year, drawing up options which would potentially go out to public consultation.

But the Cumbria Health scrutiny Committee has been told this has now been deferred until next summer.

Members were told, at a meeting in Carlisle today, that this was due to wider changes in the local NHS.

A report to the committee explained: "A comprehensive bed modelling review was commissioned in 2016.

"This review identified that although there were an appropriate number of mental health beds to meet the needs of the population of Cumbria, the configuration and location of these beds needed further consideration."

However this process was delayed while high-profile Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STPs) - to transform and modernise health and care services - were drawn up for north and south Cumbria.

A wider five-year strategy for mental health services was also being developed, covering the affected areas, while the Cumbria-wide CCG has also now been split into north and south.

The report added: "Given the new footprints for both of Cumbria's CCGs and the corresponding patient flow in the STPs for north and south, it makes sense to ensure that any review of adult inpatient services takes stock of all potential opportunities offered by these changes, which may or may not include beds in the lancashire system.

"It is expected that this scoping work could be completed by summer 2018, with options developed for appraisal."

Peter Rooney, from NHS North Cumbria Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), and Clare Parker, from the Cumbria Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT), took questions from the panel.

Chris Whiteside, Conservative county councillor for Copeland, asked whether the delay was a concern for patients if the existing wards do not meet their needs, saying inspectors have previously raised concerns about some of the facilities in the county.

"Is it going to have implications for some of the current facilities, for example Kentmere at Westmorland General Hospital?" he said.

But Mr Rooney said that additional staff have now been brought into Kentmere - which was at one point earmarked for closure - to address some of the concerns raised previously.