Hospital ICU removal to face public consultation

Furness General Hospital has been sending its sickest patients to Lancaster

The removal of the highest level of intensive care at a hospital is likely to face a full public consultation.

Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB) intends to close the level 3 unit at Furness General Hospital in Barrow-in-Furness due to staff shortages and demand.

However, Westmorland and Furness councillors have voted in favour of a public consultation over the move.

Local Labour MP Michelle Scrogham said she was "incredibly pleased" with the decision which she described as "quite clearly what the public want".

During the council meeting, members of the public shouted over the committee members and representatives from both University Hospitals at Morecombe Bay Trust (UHMBT) and the ICB, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

UHMBT intensive care consultant Dr Rachel Markham said the closure was the result of a "staffing crisis" across England and that efforts to recruit consultants had been largely fruitless.

'No adverse outcomes'

Level 3 care, for patients who need life support for multiple organ failure, has been temporarily suspended since September due to staff shortages and a lack of demand.

Patients requiring the highest level of care have been transferred 47 miles (76km) from Barrow to Lancaster along the A590.

The ICB said that over a six-month period there had been 30 patients transferred from Barrow in this way with no "adverse outcomes".

It also said evidence showed outcomes were significantly better when level 3 care was carried out in larger centres.

It added that as soon as a patient steps down from level 3 they are returned safely to Furness General Hospital for their ongoing care.

The ICB's chief commissioner Craig Harris said: "We are making a proposal based on very sound expert clinical advice."