We all have our links with Furness General Hospital. Happy moments, and incredibly tragic ones. It is part of our story, and a vital part of our community.

For me, it is where my two children were born, where we turn to when things go wrong, and where my mum had lifesaving surgery and needed the support of the ICU.

That’s why I was so angry when the NHS bosses that oversee the management of the hospital suddenly announced at the end of last week that they were temporarily downgrading the ICU at the hospital.

The reason they have given is that they are not able to find enough senior doctors to safely run the unit. 

Three days later and the changes were made – no consultation, no options appraisal, not even proper discussions with the wonderful staff who work in the unit.

All of this means that FGH can no longer look after the most seriously ill patients who need respiratory support or have multiple organ failure.

As of this week the patients who need this level of help will face a potentially life-threatening 50-mile ambulance trip to the Royal Lancaster Infirmary.

How can that be safe? The knock-on effect of this decision on the safety of other specialties at the hospital is a huge concern.

Whilst I am under no illusions that this decision reflects the damage caused by 14 years of neglect of the NHS, this situation is not acceptable, and the hospital management have got to come up with a solution as quickly as possible. 

When a similar situation happened at Blackpool Victoria Hospital a solution was found by offering potential recruits a better on-call rate.

All options must be looked at so that we can get the ICU fully functioning again as soon as possible. 

I have asked the management at University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust to share their plan for getting the ICU back up and running again and that they provide a regular update on progress.

I will be speaking urgently to Secretary of State for Health Wes Streeting MP and NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board to ask that they make sure the Trust is doing everything in its powers to get the unit fully re-opened. 

 

It is important that there is full transparency on the decision being made. It is our FGH and we will always fight for its future.