Work to integrate health and care services across west, north and east Cumbria has been rated as advanced by NHS England.

The first rating of Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships (STP) has seen the West, North and East Cumbria Health and Care Partnership considered to be one of the best in England.

It follows the award this week of more than £65 million worth of capital investment.

The funding has been made available for cancer care, the redevelopment of West Cumberland Hospital and the development of Integrated Care Communities (ICCs).

This means north Cumbria will receive more than a quarter of the money announced for England this week.

Stephen Eames, lead for the west, north and east Cumbria Health and Care Partnership (STP), said: "I am very pleased that the first assessment of our partnership working has found us to be advanced.

"This means NHS England can see we are working together well, we are making progress and most importantly we have a plan for making the improvements which will support a better experience for our patients and for our staff.

"It comes on top of the announcement this week which saw us getting an enormous amount of investment.

"More than £65 million to develop our health services is incredibly good news for our community.

"The impact of it cannot be overstated – this is fantastic news."

The STP progress assessment has classed each STP in one of four bandings: outstanding, advanced, making progress or needs most improvement.

The assessments will be updated annually.

NHS England says working together offers a greater chance of making the improvements the NHS has prioritised – taking the strain off A&E, making it easier to get a GP appointment and offering improvements to mental health and cancer care.

The cash announced this week means will be used to establish a brand new "cancer centre", complete with new equipment at Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle.

Mr Eames said they would be looking to knock down the old tower block and replace it with a new building.

He said it would happen over the next 18 months, meaning the new building will be complete in early 2019.

In February, the News & Star revealed that the redundant tower block on the infirmary site had been condemned shortly after the 2015 floods, when excessive rain penetrated the building and electrics.

Bosses said then that they planned to flatten the building, but no timescale or alternative use had been confirmed.