As you will be aware from recent communication and engagement activities, we have developed plans to reduce the number of beds at both the Royal Lancaster Infirmary (RLI) and Furness General Hospital (FGH).
As a reminder, these plans are not about reducing or changing services at either hospital; they are focused on ensuring that patients receive the care they need in the right place.
The reason we are looking at this now is firstly to do with our financial position. We cannot continue to fund care for so many patients who no longer need to be in an acute hospital. To deliver a better service and reduce unnecessary costs, we must keep improving the way we support people to move on to more appropriate care settings.
The second, linked reason, is that each day, there are between a quarter and a third of our beds occupied by patients who no longer need acute hospital care (called patients Not Meeting Criteria to Reside or NMC2R). This leads to unnecessarily long stays, during which patients can become weaker and experience reduced cognitive function. Most would recover faster and feel better at home or in a more suitable care setting.
Our plans to reduce the number of beds at FGH and the RLI are based on several improvements, which are summarised below:
- Reduction in patients NMC2R - with our partners we have reduced the number of these patients from an average of 170 to about 120 per day but we haven’t closed the beds behind them
- Increase in use of virtual wards - we can now see up to 73 patients on our virtual wards - up from 46 since November 2025. Occupancy for these ‘beds’ has also increased from 50-60% to regularly over 80%. This means that more patients requiring certain ongoing treatments can receive it in the comfort of their own home rather than be in hospital, such as IV antibiotics, etc.
- Changes to strengthen internal processes to reduce the number of patients we admit and for those that we do, get them home quicker, including Board rounds, criteria-led discharge, increasing capacity of our therapy teams to review patients daily and streaming of patients from the Emergency Department to alternative services
- Partnership working with Local Authority partners - to significantly reduce delays for patients who should no longer be in hospital. Actions taken include opening of eight intermediate care beds at Maude’s Meadow in Kendal, reduction of the five-day referral times to three days for both Councils and twice-weekly escalation of patients waiting for complex care outside of hospital
Latest update
The plans to reduce the number of beds at FGH by 18 are underway with nine beds closed to date. The remaining nine beds will be closed as and when it is safe to do so. This is being reviewed daily from a quality and safety perspective by the Chief Medical Officer, Interim Chief Nursing Officer and Divisional leadership team.
As the plans to reduce the number of beds at the RLI involve the closure of a full 24-bedded rehabilitation ward (on Castle View; previously Medical Unit 2), it is required to follow the formal NHS Service Change process.
We recently presented the plans for the RLI to Lancashire County Council’s Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee who recommended that the plans follow the full NHS service
change process, including public consultation. This recommendation has been passed to Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB) who make the final decision on whether public consultation and/or engagement is required.
As work continues with our partners to reduce these numbers further - in the longer term, we do believe we can go further. Our longer-term plans have always included a phase 2 which would see the closure of the second rehabilitation ward on Castle View (a further 24 beds) at a future date when further improvements have been sustained and the beds can be removed safely.
After discussion and agreement with the ICB and NHS England, we have agreed that as we need to enter the formal NHS Service Change process, it makes sense to include both phases to ensure that consideration is given to the plans in their entirety by our commissioners, stakeholders and potentially, the public.
To be really clear, we are not proposing to close all 48 beds in one go. It would be done in a phased approach with the first ward (24 beds) closing in 2026/27 as per the plan you are aware of, and the second ward (24 beds) closing at a future date - likely to be at some point in 2027/28. This would be dependent on several issues being resolved, including sustained reduction in patients not meeting criteria to reside, pressures on our Emergency Department reducing enabled by the further utilisation of our virtual wards, and further work with system partners regarding alternatives to admission etc.
The reshaped plans (including Phase 1 and Phase 2) have been developed into a formal Case for Change that will go before the ICB public meeting for approval on 19 March 2026, but we wanted you to know and understand the rationale for this before you see it on a meeting agenda or in the media.
Following that, a pre-consultation business case will be developed which will include some targeted engagement with service users and key stakeholders. Timings are to be confirmed but it is likely that the ICB will decide regarding public consultation in the summer.
We want to reiterate our commitment - none of the beds will be closed until it is safe to do so, and no jobs will be lost because of these plans. Colleagues will be redeployed into other suitable roles.
We will keep you updated but if you require any further information, please let me know.
Scott McLean
Interim Chief Executive