Residents in and around Maryport are being urged to take part in a workshop next week that could help shape the future care of the terminally ill.

Palliative care has been identified as the single greatest concern as the town faces the planned removal of beds at the town’s community hospital.

The Success Regime, due to announce its findings next month, has recommended all beds be removed from Maryport hospital, promising that more outpatient services would be introduced.

During a long campaign Save Our Beds organisers demonstrated that, in a deprived town, the cost and time of having to travel to other towns to visit loved ones would be enormous.

The group used public transport to show that visiting a patient in Cockermouth in the evening would take four hours for a half-hour visit and would entail walking up Castlegate to the hospital.

Maryport Health Alliance, born out of the campaign and including community and medical representatives, held a workshop on palliative care recently.

It included experts in end-of-life care and came up with several suggestions including making Maryport a centre of excellence for palliative care or using new technology to keep in touch with experts for advice and guidance on care.

Alliance spokeswoman Kate Whitmarsh has asked as many people as possible to attend an informal drop-in to tell of their own experiences or to offer suggestions on what can be improved or how the community could support the existing provision.

The drop-in will take place on Thursday , February 14, between 2pm and 4.30pm at Ewanrigg and Netherton Community Centre on Ennerdale Road.