BARROW MP Simon Fell has opposed calls for the health secretary to directly intervene at a health trust after two damning reports about its services were published in the same week.

MP Tim Farron said he did not have confidence in current management at University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay Trust (UHMBT) to resolve the problems it was facing.

Mr Farron has called for Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Sajid Javid to intervene to help solve the myriad of problems raised by the reports.

“In the end there’s been patient harm, and quite serious patient harm,” he said.

"I don't think we can have confidence in the current leadership to solve this and so what I've called for is the secretary of state to directly intervene and direct the trust for at least a period of months so that these issues are sorted out."

UHMBT runs Furness General Hospital in Barrow, Westmorland General Hospital in Kendal, and the Royal Lancaster Infirmary.

Mr Farron believes issues at the trust stem from ‘personnel, human resources and underfunding’ and criticised the trust for ‘demonising’ whistle-blowers.

But Simon Fell, MP for Barrow, said: "I don’t think it would be right for the Health Secretary to intervene at this point – the NHS has already appointed an independent improvement director to assess the issues in the Trust (of which the recent reports are just a few) to determine what is required to improve patient care, staff confidence, and community concerns.

"Once that assessment is done, resourcing will be put in place to deliver those changes.

"Clearly if the trust cannot deliver after receiving this assistance it would be appropriate for the Secretary of State to step in, but right now the trust is receiving the correct support."

An independent investigation was unable to conclude that patients within the trust's urology services were safe 'at all times in the last 20 years'.

Mr Farron also referred to another report published on the trust’s Trauma and Orthopaedics services, which examined 43 patients’ records following concerns about patient care.

The report by the Royal College of Surgeons - jointly commissioned by the trust and NHSE/I- agreed with concerns on 26 of the 43 cases examined, including on skills and training to carry out procedures and continuity of care.

While the Urology report, produced by consulting firm Niche, said 'there were clearly incidents that point to significant harms' and that '520 cases where actual or potential harm occurred' had been identified.

It said a 'key concern' was a 'combined failure to consistently report and robustly investigate patient safety incidents'.

It said UHMBT should have 'more consistently responded to concerns raised about the competency and conduct of all urology consultants'.

It also said the trust should have followed its own internal investigation and grievance policies and ensured investigations 'were thorough and wide-ranging'.

The Urology report cited findings from the 2015 Kirkup report stating that the trust had ‘previously been criticised for the way that staff had not been enabled to speak out on matters of care quality and bullying due to inter-professional and hierarchical jealousies’.