As regular readers will know, I have fought long and hard for the retention of key acute services at the West Cumberland Hospital both inside and outside Parliament for over two years now. In the process, I have tabled scores of questions, held debates, secured extra funding and lobbied Ministers but ultimately the power to save our services has always rested with the local Primary Care Trust. With this in mind I have worked with local health care professionals, lay bodies and service users to make the case for retaining acute services at the West Cumberland Hospital to the local health chiefs during this period.
This week I was informed that the efforts had largely paid off. Thanks to the lifting of £28 million of debt historically accrued by the North Cumbria Acute Hospitals Trust there are now no financial restraints on providing services and modernising services at the West Cumberland Hospital, in our community hospitals and throughout the whole of West Cumbria. This debt was written off as part of the Strategic Health Authority's commitment to the Energy Coast 'masterplan' for West Cumbria. You may recall that I took this plan to the current Chancellor, Alistair Darling and the previous Prime Minister Tony Blair earlier this year and they gave it a favourable response. The plan makes provision for £300 milion to be spent on healthcare in West Cumbria, including a new acute hospital with teaching status and national specialisms.
The retention of key acute services such as consultant led maternity services, A&E services and Paediatric services will be of immense relief to the people of Copeland and the entire West Cumbrian community. Undoubtedly, the voice of the public has been heard. The 4,000 strong march through the streets of Whitehaven was a watershed moment, the united voice of the people was unequivocal and Tony Cunningham MP and I have ensured that this voice has been heard in the highest offices in the land.
But we must take nothing for granted. On the face of it, these proposals represent a significant improvement over recent attempts to reconfigure our services, but we must all be vigilant and examine the small print closely. How will a different bed reconfiguration affect services? Will it save lives? Will it improve patient care? How will community hospitals work with GPs and the new acute hospital? In addition, these proposals have yet to be consulted upon. Only through consultation can we lend our support to these proposals (or not as the case may be). We all have a duty to play our part. What is beyond doubt is that there is now more money in local health services than ever before. In April the Government increased the budget of the Cumbrian Primary Care Trust by £56.6 million. Recently, the NDA invested over £18 million to secure our community hospitals in places like Millom and Keswick. Now the SHA has written off this £28 million debt health services will be driven entirely by clinical best practice, not the need to manage debt.
There is still much work to be done, but the future looks bright. Finally, we must never underestimate the power and the importance of our united voice; without this support we may have been looking at a very different scenario and as a health service user myself, I can only express my most sincere thanks to the petitioners, the marchers and everyone who lent me their support. We are in this together. Thank you.