THE appointment of a new team to help improve issues with patient care at the trust that runs Barrow's hospital has been welcomed.

An improvement director and an improvement board is joining the trust, reporting to its chief executive and NHS England.

It follows concerns being raised over patient care across the trust.

External investigations have been commissioned to probe trauma and orthopaedics services as well as the trust's urology department.

Furness MP Simon Fell said: "This is a welcome development.

"Patient care, and having the confidence of the community it serves, are absolutely crucial to UHMBT performing well.

"I'm grateful to the trust for engaging so openly with myself and [South Lakes MP] Tim Farron as we have sought to ensure that those concerns were heard and acted on, and for NHS England for supporting this process."

Aaron Cummins, chief executive of the trust, said: “We welcome the additional support from NHS England/Improvement, represented by the appointment of an improvement director and the establishment of an improvement board, while we continue to recover from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, and implement improvement plans across the trust.

“The trust has a history of improvement and we're grateful for the additional support to continue the progress we're already making and allow us to continue to ensure that safe, high-quality care and our own staff’s health and wellbeing remain key priorities for us in the wake of the past 12 months."

"The improvement directors are part of our leadership Team and are reporting to both myself as the trust chief executive and to NHS England/Improvement."

The new team will meet once a month.

Details of the new support team were discussed by hospital trust leaders, according to a report from its board.

Two specialist colleagues - a former chief nurse and a medical director - are also joining the trust's senior leadership team to assist improvement and development.

The probe into trauma and orthopaedics care is said to follow concerns about operations carried out by a surgeon between 2011 and 2018 and pressure from MPs in the area.

The trust said it had already made improvements to its services following an internal investigation.

The results of an external investigation into urology services are expected to be published soon.

It followed concerns over three urologists raised by a whistleblower.