Hospital campaigners say it is only a matter of time before lives are lost between Whitehaven and Carlisle, despite assurances that no patients are dying as a result of increased transfers.

The We Need West Cumberland Hospital group says it is now time to "step it up a gear" in the fight to save services.

Bosses this week gave a guarantee that transfers are safe and patients are benefiting from travelling for specialised care.

It followed the release of an independent report looking in detail at a random sample of transfers and the outcomes.

But activists, who yesterday met with chief executive Stephen Eames, say they do not feel in any way reassured by the report.

They remain concerned that people will die on the 40 mile journey to the Cumberland Infirmary and say they are ready to fight any plans to move more services - including maternity - to Carlisle.

Whitehaven mum Rachel Holliday, from the group, said despite Mr Eames' guarantee that there would not be deaths, she still does not feel their is any strong evidence to back up these claims.

"I asked what would happen if my daughter's appendix burst in the middle of the night? He said my daughter would be treated at the Cumberland Infirmary and she would be safe.

"Is that a fact I argued? Evidence shows because of the distance she would not make it," she said.

Copeland MP Jamie Reed has also criticised the latest report, commissioned by NHS Cumbria Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).

He said: “On first inspection, this appears to be a flimsy report on just 12 of the 85 transfer cases, containing very little data on which to make grand claims relating to the appropriateness of transfers.

“Patients in west Cumbria need and deserve consultant-led services, and Government are well aware that the removal of these services would be dangerous. A 40-mile journey in the back of an ambulance along the A595 is a prospect that west Cumbrians should not have to face."

Mrs Holliday, who is also Cumbria's Woman of the Year, said at the meeting with Mr Eames, who runs the North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust, she also asked who would be legally accountable if someone does die because services move to Carlisle.

She said he insisted there won't be deaths. "I think Stephen Eames believed every word he said. He believed in the facts and figures presented to him, but I do not," she added.

"Why do I question these facts and figures? Because we live these facts every day - 15,000 campaigners, front line staff and many more know exactly what will happen.

"I am going to fight. I am going to make sure my children and everyone else’s will not suffer because these professionals claim they know better than we do. I have heard many times that this is a done deal' so why bother? Now is the time, more than ever, to bother. There will be no done deal while we stand strong and tell them, you are wrong."

Mr Reed warned that the latest report: "cannot and must not be used as a vehicle by which to attempt to justify the removal of consultant led services at the West Cumberland Hospital".