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The Barrow MP has criticised Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB) over the downgrading of the intensive care unit (ICU) at Furness General Hospital.
Michelle Scrogham, MP for Barrow and Furness, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that she believes the ICB has “prioritised the hospital at Lancaster over Furness General”.
The ICB has proposed to make the temporary closure of the level 3 ICU at FGH permanent over staffing concerns regarding the amount of critical care consultants.
FGH has only three permanent consultants in post against a national guidance requirement of eight.
Due to the temporary downgrading for the ICU, patients requiring level 3 care are stabilised at FGH before being taken to Lancaster Royal Infirmary for further treatment.
Although no decision has been made, if the proposal is taken on board, this would become permanent.
Patients requiring level 1 and level 2 care will continue to be treated at FGH.
Level 3 care is reserved for patients who are critically ill and require advanced support for two or more organs, or alone for mechanical ventilation.
Ms Scrogham said: “My concern is that the people they went to advise for to say whether they should or shouldn’t close [the ICU], the information came from the [University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay Trust (UHMBT)].”
The ICB sought advice from the North-West Clinical Senate in making its proposal.
The MP for Barrow believes that not enough information was used to advise the decision and that if the senate had the “full picture”, their advice would not have been the same.
“I don’t believe they’ve done enough work to actually find the staff to put in [the level 3 ICU ward]”, she added.
Ms Scrogham also said: “I don’t believe there was ever a plan.
“They didn’t actually want to staff it at Barrow. I think the plan all along has been that they want to remove that service.”
The ICB has committed to a series of engagement sessions for those affected by the potential change, and Barrow Town Council has recommended to them to carry out full public consultations as well.
Ms Scrogham said she was “incredibly pleased” with the recommendations as “it was quite clearly what the public wanted”.
UHMBT did not respond to a request for comment.
