Furness General Hospital critical care service

University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trus (UHMBT) made the difficult decision to suspend the Level 3 intensive care service in September last year due to recruitment difficulties.

Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB) then commissioned an independent review to look at the safety and sustainability of the service going forward.

This review was done by the North West Clinical Senate and they provide independent, expert clinical leadership and advice on how services should be designed to provide the best overall care and outcomes for patients and the public. 

The review took into account the history of the service, the recruitment efforts since the temporary change was made and information provided by UHMBT, the ICB and a range of medical, clinical and managerial colleagues from a broad range of specialities, both critical care and interdependent services. 

The panel were in agreement that the suspension of the Level 3 critical care service at Furness General Hospital (FGH) needed to be made permanent and that the service should continue to provide Level 1 and 2 care accompanied by a stabilisation and transfer service for patients with level 3 care needs at FGH to the intensive care unit (ICU) at Royal Lancaster Infirmary (RLI). 

The panel stated that this was clinically correct and entirely focused on patient safety and service sustainability. 

The panel fully recognised that the previous level 3 service model was fragile and could not now be expected to meet national standards due to workforce and recruitment challenges leading to intensive care unit (ICU) service cessation in September 2024. The panel also fully recognised the multiple different attempts by University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust (UHMBT) to attract and retain sufficient intensive care medicine accredited consultant numbers over many years without success.

It also considered moving consultant cover from the Royal Lancaster Infirmary (RLI) or other hospitals to Furness General Hospital (FGH), but this would potentially de-stabilise the other services without fully addressing the gap in service at FGH.

The panel and Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB also considered a suggestion that the recruitment of further colleagues could sufficiently provide the Level 3 service, but this did not meet the standards required.

While the recruitment was successful and welcome, it still did not give the service sufficient cover to meet the national standards.

Definitely not – the hospital has a very bright future and will likely see more patients in the future due to the investment in the area. The Trust and its partners remain committed to FGH and its future as a district general hospital in Barrow. A brand new £5.8m Community Diagnostic Centre is about to be opened at the hospital and the Trust is hoping to receive national funding to expand emergency and family services on site as part of the Barrow Rising initiative.

The North West Clinical Senate and Network have taken this into account and made their decision based upon the clinical evidence. Since the service was suspended, only 20 patients requiring level 3 critical care have been transferred to Royal Lancaster Infirmary (RLI), once stabilised. (Ten further patients were transferred but would have been anyway). Patients requiring levels 1 and 2 critical care have continued to be treated and cared for at Furness General Hospital. 

No, absolutely not. The local population are not losing this service; it will just operate differently. Patients requiring Level 3 intensive care will still be seen at Furness General Hospital, but they will be treated and then stabilised. Once they are stabilised, they will be transferred to Royal Lancaster Infirmary or another appropriate provider for the duration of their care.

We have to look at the current situation, not hypothetical or potential situations in the future. Modelling suggests that the demand for level 3 critical care services will not increase massively due to the likely make up of the population that may move to the area – who are more likely to require other services the hospital provides. Of course, the decision will remain under review.

Yes, each year the Trusts carry out an annual planning cycle and should the demand be required it would be shown in this work. Then, if recruitment was successful and demand required it, of course the service could be re-instated.

It isn’t a change from the situation that has been in place for the past six months and therefore we hope the impact will be minimal.