Health secretary Jeremy Hunt has rejected calls to visit west Cumbria's troubled hospital and meet those fighting to save its services.

Angry Copeland MP Jamie Reed, who issued the personal invite, is now insisting that if he won't come here, West Cumbria will go to him. 

Mr Reed now plans to take a delegation of campaigners to London so they can set out their concerns directly to Mr Hunt.

He said: “If Jeremy Hunt won’t come to us, we’ll go to him.

“There has been a long standing refusal to listen to local concerns but the Government must now listen to the voice of West Cumbrian communities, meet with campaigners, and provide us with the support and resources that we need to realise the bright future that we are all working to build."

Earlier this month, the Copeland MP flagged up the problems facing north and west Cumbria's health services during a debate in Parliament.

In it he set out some of the concerns uncovered by the News & Star and sister paper The Cumberland News, including a high number of never events and serious incidents flagged up to bosses of Whitehaven's West Cumberland Hospital and Carlisle's Cumberland Infirmary.

He followed it up with a written invitation to Mr Hunt. 

The letter asked him to visit the area in person “to get a deeper understanding of the unique nature of Cumbria and the challenges associated with providing high quality care in the area”.

But a reply from Mr Hunt's office has now said he is unable to make the trip to Cumbria due to "hectic diary commitments".

It instead says he would be happy to meet Mr Reed in London.

But the Labour MP, who has written back to express his dismay at the rejection, doesn't want to make the journey alone.

Mr Reed instead plans to take local campaigners with him to the meeting - and has even asked the Government to help with transport costs to the capital from one of the most remote areas of the UK.

He is also asking people from across the north and west Cumbria area to contact him with their questions for Mr Hunt.

“Here in west Cumbria, from Millom to Maryport, NHS staff, patients, families and campaigners are working together to feed into the ongoing Success Regime, to address the challenges facing the NHS locally, and to shape a system that will work for our unique part of the world. 

"I want everyone who cares about these issues to contact me with the issues they want to be put before the Health Secretary," he added.

The Government-appointed Success Regime is currently carrying out a controversial review of the north and west Cumbrian health system and is set to publish formal options for service changes in the summer.