NHS Regulators intervene to support Cumbria's hospitals

Simon Stevens, the chief executive of NHS England, has unveiled plans for what he said would be a new ‘support regime’ for areas with systemic challenges in providing high quality healthcare.

The three trusts at which this new regime will be introduced include North Cumbria University Hospitals Trust, which runs both The Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle and Whitehaven's West Cumberland Hospital.

The programme is supposed to tackle both current short term problems and develop and implement solutions to long term systemic issues, so as to ensure high quality care is sustainable in the future.

There has been support for the move across the political spectrum.

The new regime is expected to involve:

• The introduction of a Programme Director to oversee any action taken
• A holistic diagnosis of the performance and strategic issues facing North Cumbria to inform a new tailored set of interventions
• A clear timeline for each phase of work
• New collective governance arrangements for oversight of the regime locally, regionally and nationally

North Cumbria University Hospitals Trust has been in special measures since 2013, though current bosses at the trust say that death rates have fallen steadily since 2012.