Health campaigners are continuing to fight controversial decisions that mean plans to cut children's services and cottage hospital beds will not be referred to the secretary of state.

It follows a meeting of the Cumbria Health Scrutiny Committee, which saw votes taken by councillors earlier in the day later overturned with no clear explanation.

An investigation was launched after it emerged four of the 11-strong committee left before the final vote, with three later claiming they were confused and would otherwise have stayed.

Protesters demanded it be re-run, but Katherine Fairclough, chief executive of Cumbria County Council, has since concluded that there are no grounds to hold the vote or meeting again.

However, the We Need West Cumberland Hospital campaign group is instead calling on her to allow the votes taken earlier in the day, when all councillors were present, to stand.

The meeting, on March 22, was held to determine whether highly-unpopular NHS plans for health services across north, west and east Cumbria should be "called in" by councillors.

The scrutiny committee, made up of county and district councillors, has the power to refer decisions to health secretary Jeremy Hunt if it does not believe they are in the best interests of local people.

However, in the end only plans for maternity were referred.

Annette Robson, of the We Need West Cumberland Hospital group, has now written again to Ms Fairclough urging her to reconsider.

She said: "The vote taken at the end of the meeting was contrary to the evidence provided at the meeting and the views and votes of the full complement of committee members were not taken into account.

"While 'due process' may have been followed, the process was flawed. We have been told many times by government and other organisations that decisions about our healthcare would be made locally."

Mrs Robson is angry that the decision was rushed through ahead of the local elections following an agreement with NHS bosses, describing it as "beyond belief given the importance of the decisions being made".

She added: "Furthermore, that the preparation and chairing of the meeting allowed four out of the 11 members to misunderstand or leave can only be blamed on the process."

The group is urging the council to meet with NHS bosses and make an agreement to refer plans for children's services, along with maternity, as the two are intrinsically linked.

"We are asking you to recognise the importance of your role, to admit that the process was flawed and to remedy the situation in the only way that makes sense," she added.