Sue Hayman, Member of Parliament for Workington, has written to Cllr Neil Hughes, the chair of Cumbria County Council’s Health Scrutiny Committee, with her concerns about the proposed changes to healthcare in Cumbria as a result of the West, North and East Cumbria NHS Success Regime. The committee is meeting today in Carlisle to discuss the proposals.
In her letter, Sue said:
Dear Neil,
I’m writing to you as Chair of the Health Scrutiny Committee, ahead of its meeting to discuss the West, North and East Cumbria NHS Success Regime’s proposals. Many of my constituents are extremely concerned about the proposals, and have requested that I submit this as formal evidence to your committee, and ask that it considers referring the matter back to the Secretary of State.
The first particular concern raised is regarding the removal of beds from a number of our community hospitals. A report published this month by the Nuffield Trust, “Shifting the balance of care”, states that “what is clear is that to avoid hospital admissions and accelerate discharges, there must be sufficient capacity and funding for alternative forms of care in the community”. This is absolutely right, particularly in Cumbria. The report also states that “without this investment, analysis suggests that the NHS will need to expand, not contract, its bed capacity”.
Full story in Cumbria Crack, 22 March 2017