SJohnston

Last updated 00:00, Thursday, 10 January 2008

TODAY’S missive by doctors concerned about the future shape of health services in West Cumbria has to be taken very seriously.

These GPs, on the front line of patient care, find fundamental flaws in the Closer To Home proposals which intend to map out our health care for years to come.

They question not only whether a new district hospital for West Cumbria will deliver the level of acute services we all desire, but whether the size of hospital proposed would even be recognised by training bodies for doctor training - and we all know how difficult it has been for years to attract consultants to the area.

The GPs’ worrying diagnosis is that the Closer To Home policy has been drawn up to put money-saving first and then to make the services fit around it.

These are extremely contentious statements - and people shouldn’t think that they’re immune from what they mean.

The radical nature of these proposals affects everyone. We’re all likely to be patients at some stage, and we should think long and hard about how we want to be treated.

They include not just the district hospital plans, but the role of community hospitals and delivery of emergency and longer term community care.

Because of unique problems set by Cumbria’s geography and relatively poor transport infrastructure, we must fight tooth and nail for a top quality health service that doesn’t bow to these drawbacks.

There is an opportunity for people to have their say, at a public meeting in Workington’s Washington Central Hotel on Wednesday, from 7pm.

It is your chance to speak out about the health service you want; we urge people to make their voices heard.