THE North Cumbria Hospital Trust has been praised for its response to the Keogh Mortality Review.

The report highlighted issues at 14 trusts across the UK, including the North Cumbria University Hospital NHS Trust, which runs Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle and the West Cumberland Hospital in Whitehaven.

Issues raised at the county trust include slow or inadequate response to serious incidents, infection control, staffing shortfalls and other workforce problems ”which may be compromising patient safety”.

The report said: “The trust recognised that there is inadequate governance and slow responses to serious incidents, and it needs less traditional roles and more innovative models of care and better engagement with the wider health economy.”

But the NHS Cumbria Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has welcomed the trust’s response to the report.

David Rogers, deputy clinical chair of the CCG, said: “The findings of the Keogh review confirm what local GPs and patients already knew, that there needs to be major improvements in the quality of care in our hospitals.

“As a local GP, I only want to commission services for patients that I know are safe and high quality, and which I would have full confidence in me or my family using.

“The Trust are already taking many of the right actions.We are committed to working with them to fully take forward the findings, and to make sure that the people of north Cumbria receive the quality of care that they deserve.”

Since the review was carried out the trust’s interim chief executive and interim medical director have developed an action plan.

The trust is also in the process of merging with the Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.