Peter Thornton, leader of South Lakeland District Council, said: “I think the people of South Lakeland deserve to be able to get the appropriate level of treatment here in South Lakeland, and clearly the hospital is a very valuable part of that.

"In a rural area it is important to have services in the hospital which is easiest to reach and people shouldn’t have to battle down the M6 to get the treatment they need. It would be a tragedy if we were to lose services at the hospital.”