Tim takes vascular services campaign to Westminster
South Lakes MP, Tim Farron, has taken his campaign to protect vascular services in South Cumbria to Parliament by tabling an Early Day Motion calling on the Government to intervene to prevent plans to remove services from Morecambe Bay from going through. Tim has stated that the decision will put thousands of lives at risk.
A regional review of vascular services will centralise services to only three sites at Preston, Blackburn and Carlisle. These sites will be expected to cover the entire geography of Lancashire, Cumbria and parts of Greater Manchester and Southwest Scotland.
These plans would remove services at Lancaster Royal Infirmary, leaving patients across South Cumbria in a very vulnerable situation
Tim has previously written to the Chief Executives of both NHS Cumbria and NHS North Lancashire to raise his concerns over plans put together by the review team for both trusts, to remove all vascular surgery services from University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust. He has also called on other local MPs to join his campaign.
The 25th September is the date when commissioners meet to ratify the decision. Tim is calling on local residents to fill in the survey below to make sure their voice is heard: The survey online can be found here: www.feedbacksurveys.org.uk/vascularservices
Commenting Tim said: "With at least fifty per cent of all vascular surgery being for urgent and emergency conditions, ensuring short journey times could be the difference between a surgeon being able to save a patient's limbs or even their lives. By removing services from Lancaster, the Cumbria and North Lancashire NHS trusts would be putting the lives of those who live in our more isolated communities at unnecessary risk.
"I hope that this motion in Parliament will help to bring the issue to the attention of Ministers and the commissioning bodies, so they can urgently intervene in order to ensure that vascular services are provided at a hospital within the Morecambe Bay area."