Governors and members of North Cumbria’s NHS health trust gathered in Carlisle last week, hearing the commitment from Interim Chief Executive, Trudie Davies.
It came in response to a question from David Wilton, a member of the trust who expressed the importance of Whitehaven’s hospital services to residents in West Cumbria and the south of the county.
West Cumberland Hospital’s Accident and Emergency Department in Whitehaven(Image: Newsquest)
Mr Wilton said that said that the area “contains some of the world’s best in nuclear engineering,” adding that the sector benefits from the support and quick intervention of West Cumberland Hospital staff if needed.
He said: “You have an A&E there and you have an Intensive Care Unit which involves levels one two and three.
“I’d like to ask you if you’re planning ahead, you will continue to offer that capability in that hospital.”
He added that given the distance between West Cumbria and the Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle, it is “an essential part of keeping people safe in that area.”
In agreement, Interim Chief Executive Trudie Davies said: “I don’t think it would be sensible for us to have a strategy which involved closing valuable services which are an essential part of that community.”
Ms Davies said that the investment and infrastructure in place at West Cumberland Hospital demonstrates that commitment.
Trust bosses invested £54.3 million of capital into its facilities in 2024/25, a £1 million share of which benefitted West Cumberland Hospital’s phase two redevelopment.
Ms Davies said that the Intensive Care Unit is “one of the most beautiful that I’ve seen, single rooms, absolutely fabulously established, really hard working highly qualified A&E team.
North Cumbria Integrated Care’s Interim CEO, Trudie Davies(Image: NCIC)
“But they can’t do everything” she said, “we need to help them to be the best that they can be in the situation they’re in and I have no plans to consult on closing those services.”
North Cumbria Integrated Care ended the 2024/25 financial year with a deficit of £25.5 million, this was 10.8 million worse than the planned deficit of £14.4 million and was achieved with the support of the Integrated Care Board.
Ms Davies said: “We have a financial challenge and we have to address that financial challenge, but I want to address that challenge by making that hospital the most vibrant; busy, effective, high-quality facility that ever existed on the face of the Earth so there would be no chance of ever closing it because it’s absolutely full, offering the best care to people.”
The entrance to West Cumberland Hospital in Whitehaven(Image: Archive)
Ms Davies agreed Carlisle is too far for patients in West Cumbria to travel and added that the Cumberland Infirmary is in high demand.
She said: “There’s always going to be questions and I will always respect the question and challenge about ‘should we look at things, should we try and do things differently?’ And we may come under pressure to look at things differently, but we have to do what’s right for the population.
“That does mean we have to make changes in other areas I think, we can’t offer everything everywhere at the same scale but we have to be sensible, when we have a population that is remote as it is, that we offer the right services.”
North Cumbria Integrated Care directors meet in public in the Cumberland Infirmary Boardroom, their next meeting takes place on November 19.