NHS News

South Cumbria and North Cumbria Join together to form the Cumbria Partnership NHS Trust.

It appears that some services in South Cumbria are now part of the Cumbria Partnership NHS Trust having broken away from the old Morecambe Bay PCT.
 
I wonder how many people know about this? I know it does not make a big differece to how we use the services available to us, but you would think that as we all pay the bills through our taxes we should be told what is happeing and when, don't you?
 
Let us hope that the NHS Trust soon follows suit. I have no faith in the Morecambe Bay set up and would prefer it we in Cumbria could manage our own NHS.
 
It may be that due to these changes that the south of the county's hospitals (Barrow and Kendal) may well be experincing diffuclties in appointment making and treatment. It may also be down to thier own inadequate systems, who knows?
 
It certainly appears to be thus in the Cardiac unit at Barrow and correspondence from Consultants is taking an unusually long time to reach GP's, if they get a responce at all. I am aware of one GP who, having written to the new Cardiac consultant a Furness General is unable to get any responce from him about the patient he is treating and it appears to be getting worse.
 
If you know of any problems let us know.

Localising the NHS

Some years ago the Morecambe Bay NHS Trust was formed and since then we have been questioning the validity of being linked with the Royal Lancaster Infirmary when the alternatives could have been much better for the county.
 
Whilst we understand those who say "we are still in Lancashire" and may agree with their sentiments, we have always thought that the alliance with the hospitals of the Lancaster area was a "bridge too far" and as petrol costs soar, we believe that this is now coming home to roost.
 
We have excellent buildings in Barrow in Furness and Kendal, new or major refurbishments are being planned for hospitals around the county of Cumbria and surely the time has come for us to opt for a county wide NHS Trust centred on Kendal's Westmoreland General.
 
Our information is that the medical profession would like this option and consider it necessary to obtain the calibre of care we both deserve and need.

Financial Crisis hits Local NHS Trust

At a recent meeting of the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Trust Board it was revealed that there had been increased pressure on ward staff, operational staff and bed managers. However, Kevin McGhee the Trust's Chief Operating Officer insisted that there was no evidence of clinical quality suffering.

Bed Losses and Cancelled Operations:

Furness General Hospital at Barrow in Furness has lost a total of 41 beds

• 30 beds on Ward 9 
• 6 surgical beds on Ward 5 
• 4 beds in Gynaecology 
• 1 Intensive Care unit bed 

Westmorland General Hospital at Kendal has lost 31 beds and the Royal Lancaster infirmary has lost 30 beds at the moment we do not have the breakdown for these losses. Surprisingly only 22 operations were cancelled.

It is time to question the efficacy of the Morecambe Bay NHS Trust!

We are not questioning the dedication of the staff, doctors or managers, simply stating the creation of the Morecambe Bay NHS Trust was a big mistake for those of us who live in the county of Cumbria. We in the county could be much better served by having our own NHS trust, the Cumbria NHS Trust and it beggars' belief why this was not thought of. Lancaster is closer to Preston and the people who live there would have been better served by being allied to Preston's hospitals rather than those of south Cumbria.
 
We would suggest that now is the time to create a Cumbria NHS Trust to bring all the services we need to the county for our well being.
 
What do you think?