'Lives at risk' claim in hospital service transfers

Most surgical emergency admissions and major medical admissions requiring any form of acute intervention have been transferred from Whitehaven to Carlisle

Staff at a troubled hospital trust say patients' lives are being risked due to a 40-mile transfer of key services.

Some medics at Whitehaven's West Cumberland Hospital have said the move of services such as trauma care to Carlisle's Cumberland Infirmary could reduce a patient's chances of recovery.

North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust has refuted the allegations.

The trust has been in special measures since July 2013, after a review found higher-than-expected mortality rates.

Speaking anonymously to the BBC's Inside Out North East & Cumbria, one member of the medical staff said: "I'm absolutely certain patients have died because of the changes."

The person added: "A patient is admitted, but there are no specialist doctors at night.

"They're put on a list for an operation, transferred to Carlisle. A day has passed. They maybe postpone it to the next day or the day after."

'Rock bottom'

Another said: "We had a woman aged over 90 with a broken hip and it was a good few hours before she was transferred.

"To witness her lying on the trolley in pain, it's soul-destroying. The morale is at rock bottom."

A further staff member added: "It's absolutely frightening.

"It's patients who need surgery, they're vomiting blood and we don't have the specialist cover at West Cumberland any more."

Dr Jeremy Rushmer, medical director at the trust, said that the transfers led to better care.

He said: "The transfer of services has been associated with an improvement, so our mortality has come down in all parts of the system - particularly at West Cumberland.

"It's no more dramatic than around surgical services. The biggest increase is in patients who live in west Cumberland postcodes, who now survive far more than they did three years ago."

Inside Out North East and Cumbria is broadcast on BBC One at 19:30 GMT on Monday 2 November and nationwide on the iPlayer for 30 days thereafter.