Last updated 19:38, Thursday, 20 March 2008

AN £80 MILLION bid is going ahead to secure funding to develop cottage hospitals across Cumbria.

Health officials have committed to keeping in-patient beds at all nine of the hospitals in north and West Cumbria, including those at Maryport, Cockermouth and Keswick - between 140 and 170 in total.

Similar 20-bed facilities will also be developed at Carlisle’s Cumberland Infirmary and the West Cumberland Hospital in Whitehaven.

These will reduce bed-blocking, effectively giving Carlisle and Whitehaven their own cottage hospitals.

The PCT is also working closely with social services to ensure patients receive care in the most appropriate setting.

Six of the cottage hospitals – Kewick, Wigton, Alston, Brampton, Millom, and Penrith – are also being considered as sites for residential and respite care centres.

Meanwhile, more acute services will be moved into community hospitals, reducing the need for patients to travel for routine appointments.

Detailed planning is being left to local groups, made up medical professionals and community figures in each district council area.

In some areas it is anticipated that the existing hospitals may be rebuilt or altered to incorporate new services, effectively creating local health “campuses”.

To fund the changes, the PCT is applying for an £80 million capital grant from the Department of Health.

Some of this money will also be used to develop similar services in south Cumbria.