Seven days to do right thing - your messages to health chiefs

Campaigners from all parts of west, north and east Cumbria are today sending heartfelt pleas to the individuals who set to determine whether the Success Regime 's hugely-controversial plans to downgrade services and close hospital beds goes ahead.

Members of NHS Cumbria Clinical Commissioning Group's Governing Body will meet next Wednesday in Workington to discuss the proposals and vote on whether or not to accept them.

This includes the plan to remove 24/7 consultant-led maternity from Whitehaven and send women in labour 40 miles to Carlisle. It also includes proposals to remove beds from hospitals in Wigton, Maryport and Alston, leaving communities with none.

Retired surgeon and West Cumberland Hospital campaigner Mahesh Dhebar described March 8 as "D-day".

He is urging the governing body to save maternity and paediatrics in Whitehaven, which he said will in turn secure the future of emergency services. He said if not, the consequences will be stark.

"This is the fight we can not afford to lose. If we do lose that fight, then west cumbria will not flourish as there will be no recruitment in any industry, including nuclear, let alone the hospital.

"New arrivals will look, above all, for two things - good education and local emergency care, including consultant-led maternity. So it is not just healthcare, or emergency healthcare, but whole future of west Cumbria we will be fighting for," he said.

Workington MP Sue Hayman added: "We really want to see that they have listened to what local people have been telling them, and that they understand people are generally really worried and frightened about what will happen if some of these proposals go ahead."

Here are your messages in full:

Lynne Davies, Workington: "This is the CCG'S chance to stop the downgrading of West Cumberland Hospital and listen to the patients and staff. Stop these horrendous transfers with the heartache and hardship they cause. Don't risk the lives of expectant mothers and babies. The problem of recruitment will never be solved until the services are secured."

Andrea Murray, Workington: "Dear decision makers, I'd like you to take into account how many thousands of people will be affected by it. I know you are aware of mine and Benjamin's birth story as I told it at various meetings but I can only point out that there are many more families in exactly the same position - where babies, and potentially mothers, wouldn't be alive today if it wasn't for the consultant led maternity unit at West Cumberland Hospital. This is massively important to me personally as if it goes, we will either have to move or won't have another child. Your decision is going to affect the whole of west Cumbria as there will be many people who won't come here to work/live if there isn't appropriate health care available and just as many will move away from here. The future of the people in west Cumbria is in your hands."

Helen Davison, Carlisle: "I want them to have the courage to say no to the options in the Success Regime plans. We want them to recognise that they are in fact a downgrading of services and likely to increase health inequalities in our region. Instead I'd like them to come back to our community and look at how we can really develop a health service that's going to work for all. To really engage with our community. There are a lot of good ideas, but they need to really talk to us. I want them to have the courage to say to the Government that what you are expecting us to do is unrealistic, and if they do say no they will have the backing of the community. We will support them. If they don't they will set our health service back 50 years."

Annette Robson, Whitehaven: "The message that comes across loud and clear from both the public and professional bodies in the consultation document is that acute emergency care and 24/7 consultant-led maternity services should be kept at West Cumberland Hospital. It is also clear that people feel that uncertainty around services is the major reason that the trust cannot recruit staff. I hope that the CCG do what is required: protect our services and the people of west Cumbria."

Suzanne Kelsey, Carlisle: "They must remember when making decisions that you are dealing with vulnerable people not numbers. These include mothers and their unborn babies, children, the elderly and the acutely ill. Even those of us who are not medically trained know how quickly a sick person can deteriorate and that timely care is absolutely essential. When babies suffer brain damage because of an unexpected and difficult birth or patients die, all because of a lack of vital facilities closer to home then those decision makers will be accountable. It will not be the frontline medical staff, who are doing their very best to prop up an NHS that is being starved of adequate funding and ethical support."

Alice Bondi, Alston: "We've been waiting for the moment of decision, and I am sure you realise that if the decision goes the wrong way, if you accept the Success Regime 'preferred options', the protests will re-double. Given everything you at the CCG have heard, with the absolutely clear message from the analysis of the responses. it is hard to believe that you won't abandon these seriously flawed proposals. Talk to us! If we work together, we can create excellent health and social care in west, north and east Cumbria, but if you impose completely unwanted changes on us, you will have to contend with our fury. We're not going away because we care about our health and our communities."

Eveline Dugdale, Wigton: "I just hope they will seriously consider the alternative plans that the League of Friends have spent hours working on. We have come up with some very viable alternatives and we would like to see the business cases worked up."

Maurice Tate, Maryport: "We hope that they will listen to reason, listen to the massive chunk of the public and realise that keeping beds at Maryport, Wigton and Alston open in tiny in the real world. We hope they won't come into this with their eyes closed."

Alix Martin, Alston: "This winter has already proved that Alston Moor is NOT a 'natural' community with Penrith as the SR suggest. On numerous occasions this winter the weather has been so atrocious that it would have been impossible for people to travel to Penrith for healthcare or for healthcare professionals to come to care for us. This leaves 2,400 people isolated. Any decision that downgrades our local hospital would be completely negligent."

Chris Mitchell, Penrith: "Our view at Penrith, in support of the other hospitals is that we just think the alternative plans for the three hospitals that are being drawn up are extremely innovative, put together by local communities and local doctors. I just hope that the CCG will listen to these really sensible plans and create something that will make nurses want to work in Cumbria."

Brent Kennedy, Carlisle: "Accept the democratic will of the people of Cumbria, who reject these proposals almost 100 per cent. There is no excuse for ignoring that."

Sue Hayman: "We really want to see that they have listened to what local people and local communities have been telling them and that they understand that people are generally really worried and frightened about what will happen if some of these proposals go ahead. I do not believe that they quite understand the transport difficulties, not just for patients but also families, or that people's concerns about what will happen if there is a serious incident in an ambulance have been properly addressed. I'm very concerned about how the ambulance service is going to cope and if our health services is going to be downgraded, how we are going to attract to keep our health services going. After that it's a downwards spiral."

Mahesh Dhebar, Whitehaven: "March 8 is D-day. This is the fight we can not afford to lose. If we do lose that fight, then west Cumbria will not flourish, as there will be no recruitment in any in

dustry, including nuclear, let alone in the West Cumberland Hospital. New arrivals in to will look, above all, for two things - good educations/schools and local emergency healthcare - including consultant-led maternity. If local and national decision makers can not provide these two vital services locally, then no young doctors, nurses, engineers, teachers, police officers, paramedics, firefighters or allied health staff will come and settle in west cumbria. Not only that, but our younger generation, born in west cumbria, will also drift away to far away land. So it is not just health care, or emergency health care, but whole future of West cumbria we will be fighting for."