A union that represents all kinds of health staff has added its opposition to controversial health cuts, saying the NHS must not "retreat from west Cumbria".

Unison represents staff working in the Whitehaven and Carlisle hospitals, community hospitals and health services, social care, and the ambulance service.

It has now set out strong opposition to the high-profile Success Regime proposals, which would see beds and services cut across north and west Cumbria.

Responding to the Regime's Healthcare for the Future consultation, it says Unison does not support the plans because:

*All our communities should have easy access to universal health services – the NHS should not retreat from west Cumbria.

*It takes a long time to travel from west Cumbria to Carlisle – long journeys cause inconvenience, stress and even danger to patients. Transfers between the two sites should be minimised.

*Cumbria is a special case and needs more money per patient so that services are high-quality and accessible.

*The Success Regime process is itself wasteful in spending NHS money on private management consultants.

A statement said it understands that NHS orgainsations are grappling with mounting financial pressures, geographical challenges, staffing issues, aging population and best practice guidelines.

However it has concerns about the way the Success Regime proposes to address these issues, and how it will affect patients.

"We regard this consultation as important as it will potentially affect services that are crucial to vulnerable people – to expectant mothers, sick children and adults suffering strokes," said the statement.

Unison added: "There may be a tension on occasions between offering local services that are easily accessible to the public and offering services that provide specialist care."

However it said they are concerned that the plans consistently involve the reduction of health services in west Cumbria, threatening the ability of the NHS to provide universal, appropriate services to all.

The union added that the plans "do not adequately take into account the difficulties for patients, relatives and ambulances in travelling between west Cumbria and Carlisle – which are likely to cause additional inconvenience, distress and, on occasions, danger to patients."

It accused bosses of "too readily" accepting the financial restrictions on spending, despite mounting pressure for increased Government funding nationally and the exceptional circumstances in Cumbria that require additional resources to provide proper care.

Finally it said the plans have been drawn up "without sufficient public involvement and through a process that is poor value for money".

The latter comment referred to the Success Regime's spending, which shows the majority of its £1.2m budget in 2015/16 went to private consultants.

The union believes this will be even higher for the current financial year.

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