Operations cancelled at West Cumberland Hospital

A number of patients expecting elective surgery at West Cumberland Hospital in Whitehaven for non life-threatening conditions had their operations cancelled on Monday or Tuesday this week because of a higher than normal number of emergency admission.

All emergency admissions were dealt with, as were all planned operations for cancer and life-threatening conditions.

The North Cumbria Acute Hospitals Trust denied allegations that the cancellations were partly because the number of hospital beds have been reduced over the past 18 months.