Workington MP Sue Hayman asked her first question in the Houses of Parliament yesterday. 

Ms Hayman said she was so concerned over the state of the NHS in Cumbria that she had to contribute to the urgent motion laid down by shadow health minister Andy Burnham. 

Regulators are being drafted into north Cumbria to help turn around struggling hospitals and other NHS services. 

The Government has revealed radical plans to tackle chronic failings in Cumbria’s NHS, particularly at the trust which runs the West Cumberland Hospital in Whitehaven and Carlisle’s Cumberland Infirmary.

North Cumbria will be one of three areas in the country – each with persistently failing NHS services – to have a new “success regime” in which NHS regulators will challenge the way things have been done. 

Ms Hayman said: “The new success regime that has been brought in seems to concentrate on talks, meetings and consultations. 

“I asked my question as I wanted assurances that the people of West Cumbria will get the healthcare they deserve, close to their homes, as a result. 

“Recruitment is also key and I wanted assurance that it would be part of the regime. 

“All we seem to do is launch from one crisis to another in our local health services. 

“There is an awful lot of speculation and rumour about our hospital and I want to get to the facts. 

“One of my priorities is the NHS and I am determined to find out what is going on.” 

Health minister Jeremy Hunt assured Ms Hayman that patients would get the services they need and recruitment will be looked at. 

North Cumbria Hospitals NHS Trust has been in special measures since 2013. 

Experts believe north Cumbria’s NHS continues to suffer because hospital, community, and social care services are fragmented. 

External experts will work in all north Cumbria’s key NHS organisations – the hospitals trust that runs the two hospitals, Cumbria Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, which runs mental health and community health services and Cumbria Clinical Commissioning Group. 

Ms Hayman met with hospitals campaigner Siobhan Gearing and has pledged to attend a protest march in Whitehaven next Sunday, June 14. 

Ms Hayman added: “I will continue to press for action from the Government to make sure that the people of West Cumbria are receiving the best health service, close to their homes.” 

There have been reports that trust bosses are secretly considering separating the management of the Cumberland Infirmary from the West Cumberland Hospital. 

The Cumberland Infirmary would become part of the Northumbria Healthcare Foundation NHS Trust, but it was unclear who would run the West Cumberland Hospital. 

The trusts involved insisted that there were no firm plans, but said that all options were being considered. 

Anne Farrar, north Cumbria trust chief executive, said this week: “There are no alternative plans developed. Our focus remains on further improving the quality and safety of services.”