A CRUCIAL meeting that will determine whether the merger of two Cumbrian health trusts can go ahead will take place this month.
Local health chiefs are due to meet with national NHS bosses to discuss the proposed move, which needs their approval.
The plans would formally join the Cumbria Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT) and North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust (NCUH), which already have the same joint management team.
If agreed, the CPFT - as a foundation trust - would formally take over NCUH, which runs Carlisle's Cumberland Infirmary and Whitehaven's West Cumberland Hospital.
Stephen Eames, joint chief executive, gave an update to the North Cumbria Health and Care System Leadership Board. "There is a critical meeting in a few weeks time with national representatives. Once we are through that we are on trajectory to go live in October as we planned," he said.
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