Petition

In the House of Commons debate, Tim Farron, the Member of Parliament for Westmorland and Lonsdale, presented a petition signed by 2,200 of his constituents regarding the temporary closure of the Helme Chase maternity unit at Westmorland General Hospital. Farron expressed concern over the repeated temporary closures of the unit, which has seen a 90% reduction in the number of births over the past 20 years due to the steady erosion of this vital and much-loved service. The petition declares that the Helme Chase Maternity Unit has been underfunded by the Morecambe Bay NHS Hospitals Trust, and that responsibility for this falls upon the previous Conservative government's cuts to rural health services. The petitioners call on the government to provide sufficient money and resources to fully staff the Helme Chase Maternity Unit and stop the threat of permanent closure. The government's position on this issue was not directly stated in the transcript, as the debate appears to have been initiated by Farron's presentation of the petition. However, the opposition's response was not included either, as the transcript only covers Farron's presentation of the petition. The broader debate that followed likely involved discussions around the funding and resourcing of rural health services, the impact of previous government decisions on the availability of maternity services in Westmorland, and the potential solutions to ensure the long-term viability and safety of the Helme Chase Maternity Unit. Members from both the government and opposition benches may have contributed to the debate, sharing their perspectives and advocating for the needs of their constituents.