HEALTH chiefs have issued a strong rebuttal to viral online rumours suggesting the West Cumberland Hospital A&E department is to be 'downgraded'.

North Cumbria Integrated Care Trust have dispelled rumours circulating on social media about the hospital's emergency department, saying they are 'working hard' to maintain the services in light of staff shortages.

A post on the We Need West Cumberland Hospital page last night suggested the service set to be withdrawn - quickly circulating on social media.

It said: "A&E department of WCH is under threat, management and clinicians’ mainly based at CIC are considering downgrading WCH A&E, to minor injury unit like Workington.

"After news about Frizington GP Surgery, these are more bad news and more NHS service erosion for west Cumbria.

"We could have major NHS emergency care disruption in west Cumbria if downgrading of WCH A&E is allowed to go ahead."

However after being contacted by the Whitehaven News today, the Trust issued a strong statement saying it is 'working hard' to maintain services.

A spokesman said: “We are absolutely not planning to close the A&E department at West Cumberland Hospital. In fact, we are working very hard to make sure we can maintain services in the face of potential staff shortages.

"We know there is a national shortage of emergency doctors and there is a risk that we may be unable to provide appropriate overnight cover in the future.

“Like any responsible NHS organisation it is essential that we have a strong business continuity plan in place which we can follow in the event of there not being enough staff in the department on some occasions.

"Our priority is making sure we can continue to provide a safe service to patients in west Cumbria at all times.”

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