This week, we received a letter from doctors, practice managers and practice nurses outlining their concerns about the Success Regime's proposals about healthcare in West Cumbria.

Here is what they had to say:

We are a group of local GPs and GP registrars passionately opposed to the proposed changes to our maternity and paediatric units in Whitehaven.

We wish to raise our voices in order to interrogate the proposals, and to make sure that members of the public, and our patients, know of the ways in which they may be affected by the Success Regime, as outlined in the public consultation document the Future of a Healthcare in West, North and East Cumbria.

We believe the proposals regarding maternity and paediatric provision – downgrading the obstetric department at West Cumberland Hospital to a standalone midwife-led unit, and removing the special care baby unit and downgrading paediatrics to a short stay assessment unit – are unsafe.

A brief outline of our concerns include:

  • 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.

The evidence to support maternal transfers is weak, unclear, and has been drawn from incomparable situations.

All parents of babies requiring long special care admissions will have to travel at least to Carlisle to see their baby.

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.

In actual fact, the department will be fully staffed at both consultant and junior doctor level from February 2017.

  • 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?

We demand an open and honest discussion to improve healthcare in our region.

We have a duty, as doctors, to do the best for our patients. We believe the proposed changes take away the individual’s choice in West Cumbria.

We care for a rural area with diverse challenges, but the fact that those we care for come from an area which is complex in its ‘geographical uniqueness’ does not mean that they are entitled to anything other than the best healthcare.

What we, as local clinicians, fear, is that the Success Regime is not giving West Cumbria the due thought and care that it – and its people – deserve.

The consultation period for the Success Regime document runs until December 19 and it is vitally important that the community raises its voice.

The issues affect, and will affect, every single one of us.

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.