Army medics could plug gaps in ‘unsafe’ service

Army medics could be used to prop up a service at risk of closure, a struggling trust has declared.

University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay Foundation Trust’s Furness General Hospital has been unable to provide the highest level of intensive care for nearly two years due to staffing shortages.

Patients needing level three ICU care are transferred 50 miles to Royal Lancaster Infirmary.

The trust had recommended closing the service to the most critically ill patients on safety grounds earlier this year. However, it also continued to explore alternative service models in a bid to avoid this step.

In a joint update with Lancashire and South Cumbria integrated care board on Wednesday, the trust revealed it was in “ongoing discussions with Defence Medical Services”. These included the potential use of army medics “as happens in some other hospitals elsewhere in NHS England”.

Military staff have been embedded at a small number of NHS hospitals through the DMS since the last dedicated military hospitals closed in the late 1990s. However, the main focus is on the maintenance of the medic’s clinical skills, rather than the relief of workforce pressures.

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Source: HSJ, 21 July 2026