A consultation which started in December 2016 considered: 4 options to maintain, reduce or remove maternity services at the West Cumberland.The movement of some or all children's services from the West Cumberland Hospital to the Cumberland InfirmaryThe establishment of a hyper-acute stroke unit at the Cumberland InfirmaryVarious options to reduce the number of in-patient beds at community hospitals.One of the decisions, to retain consultant-led maternity care in Whitehaven and establish an alongside midwife led unit was ratified by the CCG in July 2019 after a study chaired by Bill Kirkup commissioned as part of the CCG's March 2017 decision to continue with the service.
[3][4][5][better source needed] Also in March 2017, it was agreed to reduce the number of community hospitals in-patient beds and develop more care at home.
The proposed merger of North Cumbria University Hospitals with Northumbria Healthcare Foundation Trust was abandoned in April 2017.
North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust chief executive Alan Foster was made lead for all three STPs in October 2017.
[8] The West, North and East Cumbria sustainability and transformation partnership was one of four new integrated care systems established by NHS England in May 2018.
[11] A not-for-profit grouping of GP practices has been set up in West and North Cumbria to try and solve the problems of providing primary care in the region.
Mental health services in the county are provided by North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust.
Hugh Reeve, Chair of Cumbria CCG expressed the problem: "If you put the world’s best obstetricians in Barrow, in five years’ time they’ll become deskilled because there isn’t enough work for them.
[16] Lancashire North and Cumbria was one of the areas selected to pilot integrated primary and acute care systems under the Five Year Forward View in 2015.
Mental health services in the north of Cumbria were transferred to Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust.
In November 2014 the CCG invited the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists to conduct a review of maternity services in Cumbria and the Morecambe Bay area.