Healthcare`s coming home in Cumbria

Ambitious plans for community hospitals taking shape

Plans to invest millions of pounds in revitalised community hospitals in north Cumbria have captured the imagination of local people. Less than three years ago, the future of the county’s nine community hospitals was in serious doubt. Now, thanks to NHS Cumbria’s Closer to Home improvement programme, the future looks altogether brighter. The programme maps out a future for NHS services free from the burden of debt and fear over closures, with more treatment and care provided closer to where people live. Services previously only available from the big acute hospitals are increasingly being delivered from GP surgeries, community hospitals and, where appropriate, people’s homes. As part of these changes, local family doctors want to replace the county’s ageing community hospitals with new ‘health villages’, which will include inpatient beds, GP and other services.

“These plans promise to deliver health care facilities equal to the best available anywhere in Europe.”

Award-winning health care architect Jonathan Bailey has been commissioned to come up with an overall design brief for the new facilities, which will maximise the space available and ensure each new building blends into its natural surroundings. Cockermouth is in the vanguard of these plans. The town’s hospital is more than100 years old and unable to deliver the modern health services patients need.

Computer images of what the town’s new £15 million facility could look like have already been published. In addition to modern diagnostic and rehabilitation services, the Cockermouth health village will provide new premises for GPs in the town.

“This is a once in a generation opportunity to revitalise community hospitals in Cumbria and deliver the world class health services patients deserve.”

Dr John Howarth, a Cockermouth GP helping NHS Cumbria to develop the plans, says: "It is an exciting time for Cockermouth. These plans promise to deliver health care facilities equal to the best available anywhere in Europe. The opportunity for GPs in the town to work more closely together is a particularly exciting prospect. "This is a once in a generation opportunity to revitalise community hospitals in Cumbria and deliver the world class health services patients deserve."

Detailed proposals for similar facilities in Brampton and Millom are expected to be published this year. Plans for Alston, Keswick, Maryport, Penrith, and Wigton will follow later. For more information, visit the NHS Cumbria website at cumbriapct.nhs.uk/pct