Over 40,000 people are waiting for planned operations in north Cumbria – and health chiefs say it is time for radical change.
The aftermath of the Covid pandemic, a growing and ageing population and social deprivation are putting pressure on services and a new clinical strategy is being developed to address the challenges.
The North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the West Cumberland Hospital in Whitehaven, Carlisle’s Cumberland Infirmary and community hospitals, has put together the strategy and wants people’s feedback on its plans.
One of the ways the trust plans to address this is by establishing a surgical hub at West Cumberland Hospital. Surgical hubs increase capacity and offer hundreds of thousands more patients quicker access to some of the most common procedures.
Plans to help people get the care they need more quickly also include:
- Making sure there are excellent emergency services at West Cumberland Hospital and the Cumberland Infirmary
- Building more specialist services at the Cumberland Infirmary
- Providing more services in the community
- Allowing people access to more services through phones or computers
Dr Helen Skinner, medical director, said: “We’re clear on our challenges – we have a growing and ageing population with longer life expectancy, living more years in poor health with multiple long term conditions. The pandemic has led to longer waiting lists for planned care.
“The number of people waiting for elective procedures in north Cumbria has risen to over 40,000, and it is still rising. We have more people attending our A&E departments and pockets of social deprivation in many of the communities we serve meaning that not everyone has equitable access to healthcare.”
“We have to adapt and do something radically different if we want everyone to be healthier and receive the best possible care. We can’t just keep doing what we have always done, we need to make changes.”
Over the summer, the clinical leaders from the trust will be at events across the county, meeting with partners and community groups and sending out surveys to capture people’s views.
Dr Skinner added: “We really want to understand the views of our staff, patients, and our wider community to help inform the development of our clinical strategy, and once that has been agreed, we will want to involve our communities in more detail in coproducing new pathways that will improve care.”
The trust provides hospital and community health services to a population of around 500,000 people. It delivers over 70 services across 15 locations and employs over 6,500 members of staff.
Dr Skinner has outlined the plans to the governors council of the trust.
Jacqueline Nicol, lead governor said: “Part of the role of a governor is to represent the views of our members in the community. We will support the trust in seeking views by being present at some of the community events and meetings and reviewing the feedback received from surveys sent to our members – you can also contact us directly through askyourgovernor@ncic.nhs.uk”
You can have your say by:
- Completing a survey here
- Asking the trust to attend your meeting. Contact medical.directorate@ncic.nhs.uk to arrange
