A retired medic believes securing consultant-led maternity services in Whitehaven for at least three more years is the way to resolve long term staffing problems.

Bosses claim there are widespread safety concerns about the existing unit because it is reliant on locum doctors, as they simply can't recruit permanent staff.

But Mahesh Dhebar, who worked at the West Cumberland Hospital, believes the uncertainty that has hung over the unit for many years is in itself the main problem.

He is therefore urging bosses to scrap controversial proposals to downgrade the unit - which would see many women forced to travel to Carlisle to give birth.

His calls come as the Government-appointed Success Regime prepares to unveil its preferred options on Monday.

Mr Dhebar told a public meeting in Whitehaven this week that they simply need to give it more time.

He said the Regime proposals to date have given other parts of its plan, such as moving more care into the community, three to five years to bed in, but want solutions in maternity right away.

"In my view you have to give it three to five years, and continue with locums until then.

"There should be a dedicated HR manager and most of all a will to provide a consultant-led maternity unit," he said.

"If the unit has no future obviously you can't recruit. Then they say we are not sustainable. I'm asking managers to provide a commitment and provide a time frame."

At the same meeting Sir Neil McKay, chairman of the Success Regime, said that they had not completely ruled out a 24/7 consultant-led unit, but he was struggling to see how it could be sustainable because of the staffing problems.

He promised it would remain an option in the upcoming consultation, but so would other scenarios.

But when residents raised concerns about the impact of moving mums in labour - that it would put lives at risk - his solution was a dedicated maternity ambulance to transfer patients from the West Cumberland to the Cumberland Infirmary.

Several speakers shared their own personal stories, explaining that they, their babies or their family members would not have survived a 40-mile trip to Carlisle due to sudden, unexpected complications.

But one of the trust's newest senior consultant gynaecologists, Dr Ajith Wijesiriwardana, disputed this. He said that if there was not a consultant-led unit they would transfer women at a much earlier stage to Carlisle, so they would already be at a consultant-led unit.