Scott McLean, interim chief executive, UHMBT, said the trust not have the financial resources to see out the rest of the financial year unless changes were made.

McLean added: ‘Like other NHS providers in Lancashire and South Cumbria, we are facing a significant financial challenge. That is leading to some very serious decisions around things like what beds we can provide, what amount of elective activity we do and what we can and can't pay for.

‘No services will be removed or changed, and no colleagues will lose their jobs because of the changes we plan. These plans have been developed by clinical and operational experts and will be closely monitored to keep patients safe. 

 

‘We will keep working with partners to deliver care in the right setting and make the best use of resources. These decisions are difficult, but they are necessary to protect the long-term sustainability of services for our communities.'

The changes include closure of a 24-bed ward at Royal Lancaster Infirmary (RLI) and axing 18 beds across three large wards at Furness General Hospital.

The moves are part of a bid to save a combined £768,000 at both hospitals.

In addition, the trust plans to reduce the number of patients no criteria to reside from a ‘critical' 170 to a sustained level of 130 and increase the number of virtual beds by 25 to 73 by the end of March 2026.

On elective care, the trust has pledged to maintain current performance of 68% of patients referred to their first treatment within 18 weeks.

UHMBT announced this week it was escalating RLI to OPEL 4 - the highest level of internal escalation – due to increased winter pressures.

The trust announced the appointment of Steve Williamson as its new chief executive at the end of last month.