NCIC News

All the latest from the Trust | April 24, 2026

Intro from the Chair

Hello and welcome to our newsletter for foundation trust members and the wider community.

This is my first newsletter as Chair, having taken up post earlier this month and I’m busy getting to know everyone. I’ve chaired my first Board meeting and Governor’s Council and met with the Medical Staff Committee.  I can already see some of the varied challenges the Trust is getting to grips with.

I’m not new to North Cumbria and you can read some of my background here.  There is a lot of positive work going on at the moment and I can see how we can turn the challenges into opportunities to make the improvements we need to make for our patients.

I look forward to learning more from our colleagues, governors and members in the future.

Dr Stephen Singleton

Chair

Patients moving in the right direction 

Patients across north Cumbria are now waiting less time for treatment as data shows improvements in performance for the last quarter of 2025/26.

The latest national statistics published by NHS England for February, alongside provisional internal data for March, show a clear upward trend across emergency care, diagnostics, cancer pathways and Referral to Treatment (RTT) waiting times. Despite rising demand, patients are being seen more quickly and waiting lists are reducing. On our website you can see our provisional performance position against our key performance indicators for the end of March. The final position will be confirmed in early May.

Trudie Davies, Interim Chief Executive at NCIC said, “National and regional bodies have recognised the significant performance improvements made by NCIC over the past few months in all clinical services. The Trust continues to climb the performance standards rankings against peers and in recognition has been invited to share our improvement methodology with Trusts across the region. This lays the strong foundations required to continue to improve the quality of services and care we provide for our patients into 2026/27.”

Major investments in planned and unplanned care 

Our Board of Directors have agreed a £4 million investment package to transform the way urgent and emergency care is provided for patients in north Cumbria.

The £4m investment is to alleviate the pressure being experienced across urgent and emergency care services, including overcrowding in the Emergency Department; delays in getting patients to the right place for their care and an increasing demand associated with an ageing population. The programme will improve the range of services available helping to avoid unnecessary admissions to hospitals. Read more here.

Urgent Treatment Centre update 

Recruitment to our Urgent Treatment Centres is progressing well. This should see greater stability at our Keswick and Penrith UTCs with fewer short notice closures. We are also on track to fully open our Carlisle UTC in June now that we have a full staffing model in place. Co-locating our Urgent Treatment Centre next to the Emergency Department will allow us to divert minor illness and injury patients from our congested A&E department at the Cumberland Infirmary, making a significant improvement to access to care. This is part of our overall plan to transform urgent and emergency care so that more patients are treated in the right place at the right time. The plan includes extended frailty and Same Day Emergency Care facilities.

Hospital at Home frailty pilot helps avoid admissions 

Our pilot frailty service at the West Cumberland Hospital has now been in operation for two months.

The unit provides same day emergency care to frail and elderly patients with the aim of stabilising them and getting them back on their feet so they can go home without the need to come into A&E or be admitted to hospital.

In the first eight weeks, the unit has seen 140 patients with 68 per cent avoiding hospital admission.

Ongoing support can be provided by our virtual ward team where appropriate.

We have plans in place to extend the scheme to the Cumberland Infirmary in the near future. Our crowded A&E departments are not an ideal environment for frail patients, and hospitalization can cause substantial loss of muscle strength, independence, and physical fitness in as little as three days.

Electronic Patient Record back on track

Following the temporary postponement of the ‘launch of our new Electronic Patient Record at the request of NHS England in March, we are now on track to hit a new Phase 1 ‘go live’ date on 12 May. Staff training is progressing well and preparations are in hand. Phase 1 of the roll-out will see the new system installed in all our inpatient wards across all sites - improving the visibility of patient information and speeding up processes so that our clinical staff can spend more time with patients.

PFI ends at The Cumberland Infirmary 

We can confirm that our PFI arrangement at the Cumberland Infirmary has now ended and we have taken back full ownership of the building from the PFI operators Health Management (Carlisle). We have also successfully negotiated a contract with Mitie to continue providing soft and hard facilities management services on the site - ensuring continuity of service for our staff and patients and giving clarity top Mitie staff about their ongoing employment. This has been a complex process and follows negotiations which have gone on for a number of years. Exiting the deal is an important part of our medium-term financial plan and we have been fully supported by our Integrated Care Boards, NHS England, the Department of Health and the Treasury.

Culture Bazaar 2026 

Staff from NCIC attended the Culture Bazaar in Carlisle to carry out blood pressure checks and promote our HUMAN campaign. 

Music, dancing, food made up much of the day at the Richard Rose Central Academy.

Amal Kona, Chair of the Cultural Diversity Staff Network, said: "Our NCIC stall attracted significant interest, with many visitors keen to learn more about NCIC, our services, and the role of our staff networks.

"The event also provided an opportunity to offer basic health promotion, including blood pressure checks and sharing health information and resources.

"Overall, the Culture Bazaar was a valuable opportunity to engage with the community, promote our Trust values, and strengthen awareness of our staff networks."

Prepare for the bank holiday weekend

We urge you to stock up your medicine cabinets this week in case you need any emergency medication over the first May bank holiday weekend (next weekend).

And if you do need to use our services please Choose Wisely. Your pharmacy can often help with minor ailments and illnesses but if you need further assistance over the bank holiday please contact NHS 111 or if it’s a life threatening emergency -  and you require urgent and emergency care – dial 999 or visit our A&E departments.

Member and Governor update

Governor Column from Eric Martlew, Public Governor for Carlisle

I would like to contrast my time now as a governor, to that when I was on the board of predecessor Cumbrian trusts 1974 - 1987.

The change in the health service is remarkable. Investments in new technology, estates and medical advances to mention a few. But some of the problems we faced back then are still with us today - difficulty in recruiting and retaining consultants and  the geographical, rather than the population need, for two district general hospitals without the necessary finance to run them. Happily we are now attracting more consultants to the area but finances will continue to be challenging.

The Trust is now at a turning point.

We are now part of the NHS intensive recovery programme which will provide funding and support. This should be seen as a positive opportunity.

The new UTC at the CIC will help to take considerable pressure off the overstretched A&E and the new Community Diagnostic Centre in Workington is already bringing down the waiting lists.

With the new Chair, Dr Stephen Singleton, and the Acting CEO, Trudie Davies, we now have the leadership to take us forward.

I have compared our current NHS more favourably to what it was in the 70s and 80s, but the one aspect that I think has become worse is the unwieldy bureaucracy - it is a negative component in the system and needs to be addressed. In my view the recent process of appointing the new chair was an example of this. My perceptions was that the number of meetings and the hoops we had to jump through were unbelievable,  and the process compares unfavourably with other large organisations like local government.

However, I am optimistic that,  given the positive lead from the centre, our future looks good and I hope that the governors will be part of this journey. We are an untapped resource, with multi skills and extensive experience, and are ready to help.

Eric Martlew Public Governor Carlisle 

Become a member

Anyone living in Cumbria over the age of 14 can become a member, you can choose how much or how little you want to be involved – join today.

Concerns or comments

If you have any concerns or comments please contact your governors on the email below. We are here to raise any concerns on your behalf.  More information on the members of the Governors’ Council and their role can be found on our website. If you have any comments or suggestions please contact us via the email below: AskYourGovernor@ncic.nhs.uk 

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