Border Cumberland Infirmary

Emergency stroke treatment for patients in north, west and east Cumbria will take place in Carlisle, health officials have announced.

Plans to develop a hyper-acute stroke unit at the Cumberland Infirmary have been given the final approval by NHS North Cumbria CCG.

The announcement comes alongside a timetable to close all the in-patient beds at Alston, Wigton and Maryport community hospitals in the county.

Visiting at the Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle has resumed after it was suspended for a week due to an ongoing outbreak of norovirus.

North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust made the announcement on Twitter.

Visiting remains suspended on Elm A and B wards.

The Government has announced that up to £100million will be invested in the two acute hospitals in north and west Cumbria.

£30-50 million will pay for a new cancer unit at the Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle. The same amount will be spent on the continued re-building of the West Cumberland Hospital in Whitehaven and up to £5million will pay for eight so-called "Integrated Care Communities" to improve access to local services in the community.

Watch Tim Backshall's report here:

The North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust has been ranked 45 out of 138 trusts in England, for its Accident and Emergency performance.

The national average for all trusts in May 2017 was 84.6% and North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust’s overall performance was 89.8%, above the average.

The national standard is that 95% of patients should be seen, treated, admitted or discharged from A&E in under four hours.

The Trust’s two A&E departments in Carlisle and Whitehaven had 7,696 attendances in May 2017, equating to over 10 people every hour.

The North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust is still rated as 'requires improvement' by the Care Quality Commission.

A new patient experience report has rated North Cumbria University Hospital's NHS Trust's Renal Units the best in the country. The UK Renal Registry and the British Kidney patient association looked at 39 units across the country. The survey covered 8,162 patients and asked 43 different questions. The units in the Cumberland Infirmary and the West Cumberland Hospital scored 9.31 out of 10 in the overall experience category.