Councillors will be urged to reject controversial moves that will see many of the most sick children in their district sent to Carlisle for treatment.

Plans agreed last week mean that only youngsters with more minor conditions will be able to stay in Whitehaven.

But campaigners have not given up and will now ask members of Cumbria Health Scrutiny Committee to call in the decision.

The panel of district and county councillors has the power to refer the matter to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

Although NHS Cumbria Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) agreed to keep overnight paediatric beds at the West Cumberland Hospital, these will only be for monitoring fairly minor conditions.

This was the “least worst” option set out by the Government-appointed Success Regime, but one that campaigners have opposed from the start as it is still a downgrading of services.

Although consultant-led maternity in Whitehaven was given a one-year reprieve by the CCG, many also fear this cannot be made sustainable without a full paediatric service working alongside it.

Members of the We Need West Cumberland Hospital campaign are now preparing to challenge the decision, starting with scrutiny.

Lynne Davies, from the group, is urging parents whose youngsters will be most affected by the changes to share their stories so they can be submitted as evidence at next week’s meeting.

She said: “The fight is not over to save our children’s services. We want to challenge this recommendation at the next stage of the process, which is the scrutiny hearing on March 22.”

Retired consultant Mahesh Dhebar said the option agreed will mean no consultant paediatrician on site in Whitehaven overnight. He is therefore questioning where this leaves maternity, asking who will look after seriously-ill babies born at night or in special care.

But the CCG insists the two decisions do work.

A spokeswoman said the aim is to recruit paediatricians to work as one team for both sites, with a paediatrician available within 30 minutes to support the labour ward. To do this, she said there would need to be two consultant paediatricians on-call every night – one to cover Carlisle and one to cover Whitehaven. She said they therefore need to recruit more consultants to reduce the number of on-call shifts.

To share your story, email lynne.davies03@gmail.com