INVESTIGATIONS are underway after a patient died following a transfer from Whitehaven to Carlisle hospitals.

The unidentified patient was taken from the West Cumberland Hospital to the Cumberland Infirmary in March, but died after suffering a cardiac arrest.

Concerned staff members have come forward to provide details of the incident following a special report by The Whitehaven News ' sister paper  The Cumberland News , which highlighted a number of serious incidents at both hospitals. 

There have been six recorded never events across both sites - things which were "wholly avoidable" - since July, five in theatre.

Medics of all levels have spoken of their fears over patient safety. 

A senior staff member said they were concerned the focus is on addressing the issues which will see North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust removed from special measures, rather than tackling issues such as staffing shortages.

The patient transfer incident has been recorded as "meeting serious incident criteria", therefore warranting further investigation.

The Whitehaven News understands that the investigation will look at allegations that specialist medical staff were not alerted to the patient's arrival, and they subsequently had a cardiac arrest and died.

The trust is looking at why they had not been seen by a specialist despite a handover, and concerns over "possible delays in transfer".

Nobody from the hospitals trust was able to provide a comment on the incident in time for publication.

However, new chief executive Stephen Eames has previously stated his firm stance on tackling the "unacceptable" number of serious incidents.

He added: "We have escalation processes for any staff concerns, and we take any concerns that are reported directly very seriously.”