WESTMORLAND General Hospital is ‘a step closer’ to getting its radiotherapy services back, according to a local MP.

Tim Farron told the Gazette that the barrier to bringing radiotherapy to the South Lakes was inflexibility over the funding formula, with the ‘national standard tariff’ currently too low to cover the costs at smaller units.

But after posing a question in Parliament to health minister Dr Dan Poulter, it was admitted that ‘local variation is permitted’.

Mr Farron is now writing to NHS England and local health bosses to encourage them to move forward immediately with plans to bring radiotherapy to Kendal.

He said: “One of the major stumbling blocks was the price it would cost per treatment. “In a rural area that could have made radiotherapy impossible – but now that the government has stated that flexibility is permitted, the door is open.”