Here is what they had to say:
- The unacceptably long transfer time of a woman in labour to get to an obstetric department, which will result in the deaths or serious damage of mothers and babies.
This will cause poor bonding, family separation and massive additional stress to new families who are already in a stressful situation. Added to this there is no mention of any provision of accommodation at Carlisle for families in this situation.
- The Success Regime has failed to acknowledge the improvements in maternity staffing at the West Cumberland Hospital.
- There has been no mention of improvements to the infrastructure at the Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle. It is not uncommon for their maternity and paediatric units to be full. In this situation, patients are transferred to the West Cumberland , the very department the Success Regime is trying to close.
With numbers of births almost doubling at Carlisle due to the proposals, they will not be able to cope. This issue has yet to be acknowledged in any way.
- This area has, in recent years, suffered horrific flooding, which has closed countless roads for weeks.
How would the Success Regime transfer emergency labours safely during snow or floods?
From: Dr Eve Miles, Dr Catherine Blyth, Dr Carys McGowan, Dr Celia Heasman, Dr Heather Naylor, Dr Mary Philips, Dr Paul Carhart, Dr Victoria Jay, Dr Sarah Hutton, Dr Sharmilla Jenkinson, Dr Amanda Challue, Dr Alison Hetherington, Dr Tom Gallagher, Dr Nosheen Bhutta, Dr Caroline Batema, Dr Raluca Rotar, Dr Tom Gallagher, Dr Sue Dowling, Dr Kamila Winterbottom, Dr Veena Rao, Dr Alison Overend, Dr Johannah Langmead, Dr Andrew Stevenson, Dr Eve Atkinson, Dr John Mercer and Dr Kirsti Harnor, practice managers Lisa Drake, Janet Toole and Kerri Hunter and practice nurses Alice Thompson, Sue Naylor, Lin Cunningham, Madeleine Close, Holly Devoy, Lesley Devoy, Barbara Telford, Margaret Hardman, Peter Thompson, Jim Devoy and Stephen Telford
How to get involved:
To join the campaign against the cuts simply sign our online petition here .
For those who have signed online please share the link on social media to help spread the word.
You can also do more by handing out copies of our paper petition and returning the sheets to us before the consultation closes.
We are asking shop owners, community centres, social groups and others to help either by downloading the petition here and printing out copies, or contacting our offices to arrange for some to be sent out.
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