THE Westmorland Gazette is this week joining forces with an MP to put pressure on the Government to act now to avoid damaging cuts to NHS services in Morecambe Bay.

The MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale, Tim Farron, is taking action because he is extremely concerned about cuts to hospital beds; the possible closure of wards; and the future of maternity and out-of-hours services in South Lakeland.

Mr Farron, who has spoken about the issue in the House of Commons this week, and tabled an Early Day Motion, is now asking readers of The Westmorland Gazette to help.

He would like readers to sign a petition slip to convince the Government of the strength of feeling in Morecambe Bay about cuts to local services. He also wants the extra costs of providing healthcare in rural areas to be funded, and hopes the campaign could spread nationwide.

Last month, both Morecambe Bay Hospitals NHS Trust and Morecambe Bay Primary Care Trust announced major cuts, in a drive to save millions of pounds and balance their books.

Mr Farron believes that although more money has been pumped into the health service, initiatives and targets set by the Government have not been properly funded.

On top of that, health bosses say that it costs more to provide NHS services in Morecambe Bay, where the rural nature of the area means that it is necessary to have three hospitals when the same population in an urban setting can be cared for at one hospital.

Bosses at the hospitals trust, which runs Kendal's Westmorland General Hospital, the Royal Lancaster Infirmary and Barrow's Furness General Hospital, calculate it costs them £10 million more a year to provide healthcare than comparable health trusts.

The MP pointed out that a recent survey by the British Medical Association showed that 385 out of 530 health trusts in England were in deficit, and that a third of trusts surveyed were planning to cut services.

Launching the petition, Mr Farron said: "This is the best chance to save our local health services and to demonstrate it's not the fault of local managers.

"Health services locally are being cut back because of the Government's insistence that local health trusts take responsibility for central Government's failure to provide funding.

"The Government will assume it can get away with just blaming the local health trusts, and saying it's down to poor management locally unless it's demonstrated, by a rising up of popular opinion, that actually we don't buy that."

Last month, the hospitals trust announced that it was to close up to 130 beds across the bay, was clamping down on spending, and needed to save half-a-million pounds in management costs.

This week, the trust said that it was likely to close 12 beds on Ward 3 at WGH, which is a medical ward, and 19 beds on Ward 5, which is a surgical ward.

Bosses have said that they can close the beds without harming patient care because there were already empty beds regularly available across the organisation.

In a further move to cut costs, managers announced a review of out-of-hours services at WGH, and a review of maternity services across the bay.

Morecambe Bay Primary Care Trust, which purchases healthcare for the population and provides community services, this week launched a public consultation on closing two wards at WGH.

It believes it can replace Ward 2, for older people with mental health problems, with community services; and transfer the service for adults with mental illness from Ward 4 to a unit in Lancaster.

A Department of Health spokesperson said: "Investment in the NHS is at record levels, and continues to grow by 2008 it will have reached £90 billion.

"The final audited accounts for 2004/5 show a net deficit for the NHS as a whole of around £250 million. The great majority of NHS organisations were in surplus or balance.

"We have published details of those NHS organisations with a deficit. The chief executives of all these organisations have been asked to take urgent action to make an immediate and sustainable improvement in financial performance."