After the Care Quality Commission (CQC) published a report stating Cumbria's NHS trust "requires improvement", News & Star readers have shared their thoughts.

Serious staff shortages and coronavirus pressures are behind a warning over patient and staff safety given to North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Trust (NCIC), after the report found that some Carlisle hospital patients were being given one-to-one care by porters and security guards.

The CQC has served a warning notice to the trust, ordering that it must make immediate improvements “to keep people safe” at both the Cumberland Infirmary and the West Cumberland Hospital.

The care quality watchdog, which carried out the inspection in August, also found ambulance handover times "concerning", with many patients waiting hours to be seen – and one being held in an ambulance for more than four hours.

And now our readers have shared what they think, with many pushing for the number of those in management to be cut down, to allow funding to reach the hospitals' emergency services.

Kevin Burrow said: "Staff shortages and poor morale is nothing new.

"I worked in North Cumbria hospitals for a lot of years – CQC were always picking up on these problems [and] nothing changes.

"They need to cut down on management and put the money into front line instead of wasting money."

Donna Jefferson added: "The A&E staff saved my baby’s life last year, I will be forever grateful to them.

"I’m sure they’re all doing the best they can in what is a pretty rubbish situation.

"If anyone is at fault it is senior management of the trust.

"People are worried about job security and will do what they’re told to do in order to retain their jobs even if they don’t think it’s the right thing to do or they disagree with it."

But reader Euan Donald believed it was up to the government to make changes, commenting: "Blame the government – ran down the NHS with a decade of austerity, change the game plans every few months after another knee jerk reaction to an event in the tabloids.

"No good blaming managers – who else is going to manage the accounts, hire staff, organise staff rota’s etc? If Matron did that she’d be doing no clinical work at all! Also most managers were clinical staff at some point."

What do you think? Do you believe the trust should improve services? Let us know at letters.carlisle@cnmedia.co.uk.