Farron ultimatum to NHS bosses: "Rip it up and start again"

4.00.00pm GMT Wed 1st Nov 2006

Local MP, Tim Farron has issued an ultimatum to NHS trust bosses as they meet today in Barrow, as they decide whether to proceed with plans to close the heart and stroke units at Westmorland General Hospital in Kendal.

The board chose to make these cuts at their meeting on the 13th of September but have since been forced to think again following their admission that vital information relating to ambulance journey times had been incorrect - wrongly stating that the maximum ambulance journey time in Morecambe Bay would be 45 minutes. The correct figure is nearer an hour.

Tim Farron said:

"Today health bosses have a second chance to show that they have listened to local people, 26,000 of whom signed the petition to stop the reduction in services.

"The trust must go back to the drawing board because of the faulty figures on which they based their original decision. If they don't they will leave themselves open to challenge, possibly even through the courts."