Last updated 05:40, Friday, 01 August 2008

The announcement that North Cumbria’s two main hospitals have this week secured coveted university status, opening up new opportunities for trainee doctors and nurses across the area, is to be welcomed.

The Cumberland Infirmary and West Cumberland Hospital have been re-branded with the North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust logo, signalling a major change which should establish a first class health education and training centre for Cumbria.

The trust’s formal bid has good backing; having been supported by the Universities of Cumbria and Newcastle, which are both involved in new medical student teaching schemes, the Privy Council and the Department of Health.

The NHS reached the grand age of 60 last month, and its core principles – providing free healthcare for all, regardless of wealth – are still admired by many.

But it is also an institution beset with problems, and over the years the Carlisle and Whitehaven hospitals have not escaped the effects of inadequate funding and service cuts at a national level.

University status will secure investment and the continuing provision of healthcare for the people of north Cumbria.

The new education opportunities set to attract people to the area include a significant project: the development of a new dental education centre.

It will take its first wave of trainees from the University of Central Lancashire next month, giving students the hands-on training they need to qualify.

The dental service has reached crisis point in recent years; at its worst some 26,000 Cumbrians were on a waiting list for an NHS dentist.

These are major developments which, if all goes to plan, will have wide-reaching benefits.

The county has been suffering from a brain drain for too long, and we need to not only attract young talent, but retain it too, if the much-anticipated regeneration of Cumbria is to be a success.