West Cumberland Hospital planning redevelopment

The future of West Cumberland Hospital and the health and well-being of people in West Cumbria has been revealed.

The vision will build on plans to further redevelop the hospital site including a health village and a ‘one health’ education facility, with accommodation and university research experts working with the trust to address some of the regional and social health care challenges.

In July, NHS England announced that West Cumberland Hospital in Whitehaven will receive between £30-50 million to further refurbish and redevelop the hospital, and work has already started on how that can help shape the future design of the site.

Filling Dod Architects have been appointed to help take forward planning and design.

Health leaders have already presented initial plans to the West Cumbria Community Forum and together they are exploring how they work together with the community to really improve the overall health and well-being of people in West Cumbria.

John Howarth, deputy chief executive at North Cumbria University Hospitals and Cumbria Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We have a clear vision of how we can develop and integrate health and care services over the coming months and years in order to improve the quality of care we deliver as well as the health and well-being of our communities.

“West Cumberland Hospital forms a vital part of this plan and we are currently talking to our partners about what could be provided from a health and care campus. As well as providing acute services as we do now, it could also include primary care services and a new education facility in partnership with the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan).

“One of the most important elements of this development is community involvement and we are already talking to members of the community to discuss how we can take this forward together with their input. We have secured the funds and developed initial plans but we now want the community to help us shape a vibrant health village right her in West Cumbria.”

Richard Pratt, chair of the West Cumbria Community Forum, facilitated by Healthwatch Cumbria, said: “There was a real buzz at the meeting where we discussed this earlier this month: all who spoke said that they were excited at the prospect of being involved in working out how to use this opportunity to make a difference in West Cumbria.

“We recognised that there are bound to be some hiccups and difficulties but they must not be allowed to spoil the growing trust between the NHS System and the wider community. Several people made the point that both the NHS and the community need to change so that the health and wellbeing of the whole population improves. It was a very positive meeting and we all left with a determination to make things happen over the next 12 months.”

Sean Kember, Gilling Dod Architects, said: “We are delighted to have been appointed once more to support the Trust in continuing the journey of developing healthcare in Cumbria. The prospect of a health campus on the West Cumberland Hospital site provides an exciting opportunity for the local community and we look forward to working with the project team, staff and the local community on this multi-agency collaboration to build on the achievements delivered in the initial phase of hospital development, which opened in October 2015.”