Mothers and babies will die if health bosses bring in planned changes that will prevent emergency Caesarean sections taking place in West Cumbria.

That was the message of people in Workington tonight to the Success Regime, which is proposing sweeping changes to health services across the north of the county, which prompted the launch of the Times & Star's Save Our Services campaign.

Almost 100 people turned out at the Carnegie Theatre to quiz the people behind planned changes that could see consultant-led maternity services removed from Whitehaven's West Cumberland Hospital.

Bosses admitted that under the plan a woman thought to be low risk and sent to the proposed midwife-led unit in Whitehaven would, if she suffered complications that needed Caesarean delivery, have to be transferred by ambulance to Carlisle's Cumberland Infirmary - a journey averaging almost an hour.

Mark Jenkinson, of Seaton, told the meeting that had it not been for foetal monitoring in a consultant-led unit leading to an urgent Caesarean, one of his children would not be alive today.

He said: "The timescale for a category one Caesarean is 30 minutes from decision to delivery. You couldn't get to Carlisle from Whitehaven in 30 minutes.

"There will be mothers and babies lost without a doubt."

He added that it was not feasible to retain elective Caesarean sections at Whitehaven without a special care baby unit as that would also carry serious risks.

Retired consultant Mahesh Dhebar branded the Success Regime disingenuous for likening the proposed maternity service for north Cumbria to a system in place in West Wales, which has fewer people per square kilometre and where a helicopter is used for emergency transfers.

In Cumbria, the Success Regime said, a dedicated ambulance would be provided alongside the midwife-led maternity unit in Whitehaven to transfer women who were found to need consultant-led care during labour.

That ambulance would be ring-fenced for that purpose unless a maternity-related 999 call was made that it would be best suited to attend.

Emily Campbell, of Workington, said: "Are you not concerned that you're going to lose midwives and members of staff because of the pressure you're going to put on them that our lives and our babies' lives are in their hands?"

But Anna Stabler, deputy director of nursing and midwifery at the hospitals trust and herself a midwife, said: "I see this as a huge opportunity. It's about having the experience and skills to practise being with women.

"We'll provide more training if that's what they require to help them feel confident to deliver these services.

"We're already looking at developing advanced midwifery practitioners."

Sir Neil McKay, Success Regime chairman, said: "There's risk with all aspects of health care. It's how you mitigate it and how you manage it.

"There are greater risks in leaving the services are they are. We are confident that the risks can be successfully mitigated."

Doing nothing was not an option, he said, as the Care Quality Commission had expressed concern about the sustainability of some services at the West Cumberland Hospital.

Asked why key services such as maternity and stroke treatment were being centralised in Carlisle rather than Whitehaven, the panel said the need for some patients to be transferred for more specialist treatment in Newcastle and Middlesbrough meant Carlisle was geographically the better option.

Stephen Eames, chief executive of North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "This is about both hospitals. There clearly are some changes that would take some services away from the Whitehaven site but there smallish numbers compared to the number of patients affected by the changes."

He estimated that, with the return of services including some elective surgery and cardiology to Whitehaven would mean 7,000 more patients being treated there in about 15 months' time.

Sir Neil added: "The hospital in Whitehaven has a fantastic future. It's got wondering modern facilities. We need to make sure residents in this part of Cumbria are given the choice to have your operations in Whitehaven when at the moment you're referred to Carlisle."

Regime bosses added that a major focus of their proposals was to reduce the number of people being treated as hospital in patients, moving the focus to care at home.

Sir Neil said: "We see real potential for north, west and east Cumbria to become an international centre for excellence for people to be treated in their homes."

Challenged to travel as patients do for an ambulance transfer between Whitehaven and Carlisle, Mr Eames said Success Regime bosses were already in talks about going with an ambulance in an emergency situation to get the real life experience.

Paul Caine, of Stainburn, questioned the process by which decisions would be made after the consultation closes.

He said: "I'm a little but suspicious that it will be the preferred option every time.

"You talk about attracting staff to the services. You're talking about taking the flag down in West Cumbria and that's not the advertisement that's going to attract people. We need to improve the services.

"People will die because of the choices you're making and I want to know how you will come to those decisions."

Peter Rooney, deputy chief executive of Cumbria Clinical Commissioning Group, said that after the consultation closes on December 19 all responses will be analysed by an independent organisation that will compile a report.

Local doctors, supported by some specialists from outside, will then consider all the feedback and make recommendations about the best way to deliver services in the future.

Public feedback will be considered alongside factors including the impact of the changes on residents, quality of care and efficiency, and whether they are deliverable.

Cost would be among their considerations, he added.

The independent organisation in question would be the Consultation Institute, the meeting heard.