THE future fate of West Cumberland Hospital's threatened A&E and maternity departments may be delayed.

Copeland MP Jamie Reed is calling for chiefs to be given more time in drawing up options for the future of healthcare in the county

The 'Success Regime' - which is a partnership of health organisations working together with help from the country's top health bosses - was due to reveal its options for the public to consider in April.

Among them would be how they plan to tackle the recruitment crisis at West Cumberland Hospital and whether services such as A&E and maternity would remain 24-hour consultant led.

But Mr Reed has questioned whether the process should be extended.

"Shouldn't we be extending this for a few months? It now feels that the circumstances on the ground have changed and we need more elasticity," he told a meeting of the West Cumbria Community Forum health group.

The MP said external factors such as the county's devastation from the floods, a new boss at West Cumberland Hospital and Cumberland Infirmary, as well as the potential devolution deal, all now affect the process.

"I will write to Jeremy Hunt (Secretary of State for Health) for the process to be elongated," he said. "I feel that we are not considering this with 365 degrees due to events that have occurred and I just think that we need more time."

North Cumbria is one of three areas chosen nationally to take part in the Success Regime, a national initiative designed to support the most challenged health areas - those with long-term recruitment difficulties; have a history of financial challenges and need to improve services.

Carol Woodman, of campaign group West Cumbria Voice For Healthcare, said they were concerned about lack of public engagement so far.

"We have not seen anything yet about how you will do things differently and we haven't had any engagement yet about the options that are coming up. There is a very real reason to extend this."

And county councillor, Christine Wharrier, told Success Regime chiefs: "For the public it feels like there's new people coming in but nothing coming back saying something is being done. People are starting to see you as ineffective. If it has to be delayed then we have to have a taster of what is going on."

Nicky O' Connor, Success Regime programme director, told the meeting in Cleator Moor, they are still committed to producing the clinical strategy by the end of March however they might need to consider a time extension.

"We have been trying to get out as much information as we can," she said. "We recognise that we haven't got as much out there as we would have liked. We are trying to set out a different vision for how health services are provided. There have been no decisions. It won't be us making the decisions. We pull together the most viable options, the ultimate decision comes via public consultation."

And Dr Stephen Singleton, Success Regime medical director, added: "If the problems were easy they would have been solved years ago. I see this as a 10 year project, maybe 20 years, where we are growing our own staff. It's a dialogue about how we get out of this mess together."

He added: "Every one of us is part of the Success Regime if we want young doctors to come here, it's us that have got to attract. We are in a competition, there aren't enough doctors to go around."