More than £65 million has been awarded to support the development of health services in West, North and East Cumbria.

It means significant investment in:

• Cancer care including a new radiotherapy machine.
• The next phase of development at the West Cumberland Hospital.
• The establishment of Integrated Care Communities (ICCs) which will mean more co-ordinated health and care services delivered locally.

The announcement was made by the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt and the chief executive of NHS England Simon Stevens at the Kings Fund this morning.

Stephen Eames, the lead for the West, North and East Cumbria Health and Care Partnership, said: “This is fantastic news for patients in Cumbria. This significant investment in our local cancer services – in partnership with the excellent specialist services at Newcastle hospitals – means we can provide more modern cancer treatment, from state of the art facilities, which will benefit people living across north Cumbria.

“We are keen to get on with the next phase of development at the West Cumberland Hospital and this will enable us to push on with those necessary changes.

“But perhaps most importantly this shows real confidence in our health and care system and we are delighted that this sends a signal to those who may choose to come and work here that things are improving.”

The funding will released over the next three years:

CANCER

There will be between £30-50 million to improve access to chemotherapy and radiotherapy by establishing a new cancer centre, complete with new equipment at Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle. It will enable the links with specialist services at Newcastle hospitals to be further strengthened.  The investment should help 95 per cent of Cumbria patients with suspected cancer receive a diagnosis within four weeks and, by improving access, both 1 year and 5 year cancer survival rates are set to increase. This includes a new radiotherapy LINAC machine which will help to make the service sustainable.

WEST CUMBERLAND HOSPITAL

West Cumberland Hospital will receive between £30-50 million to refurbish and redevelop parts of the hospital estate to bring it up to date, improving the experience of both patients and staff.

INTEGRATED CARE COMMUNITIES

Up to £5 million will be spent supporting the development of Integrated Care Communities – local hubs that bring together GPs, social care, community services, mental health services and specialist hospital consultants to support people closer to where they live.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said: “This funding will support strong local plans to help the NHS modernise and transform care for patients.

“A measure of success of these transformation partnerships is that people can see and feel improvements being made in their local area – there are already excellent examples of this across the country and this money will allow them to go further and faster.”

NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens said: “Today we’re firing the starting gun on the first wave of major service upgrades and care redesign which will benefit people living in counties, towns and cities across England.”

The announcement from NHS England can be found here: https://www.england.nhs.uk/2017/07/patients-to-benefit-from-325-million-investment-in-nhs-transformation-projects/

Notes for editors:

The West, North and East Cumbria Health and Care Partnership is made up of health and care commissioners and providers. Partners include Cumbria County Council, Cumbria Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, NHS England, NHS North Cumbria Clinical Commissioning Group, North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust, North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust, primary care and third sector organisations.

Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships (STP) have been created to encourage health and care organisations to work more closely together to improve outcomes and care for local people, reduce pressures on services and make best use of our financial resources.

Cumbria sits across two STP areas – West North and East Cumbria Health and Care Partnership in the north and in the south in Healthier Lancashire and South Cumbria.

Information on today’s announcement can be found here: https://www.england.nhs.uk/2017/07/patients-to-benefit-from-325-million-investment-in-nhs-transformation-projects/

Final funding allocations will be dependent on business cases being successfully approved, linked to a robust, wider estates and capital strategy across the STP area that demonstrates that NHS surplus land disposals are being maximised.

The King’s Fund is an independent charity working to improve health and care in England.

The bandings represent the range that could be awarded.