No further public consultation will be needed if bosses decide to press ahead with the removal of consultant-led maternity services from Whitehaven after a 12-month reprieve.

They could even remove all maternity services from the West Cumberland Hospital , including midwife-led births, without further formal consultation if they feel the alternative is unsafe.

Last week, following huge opposition to plans to centralise services in Carlisle, NHS Cumbria Clinical Commissioning Group 's (CCG) governing body agreed to secure the service for another year.

They said this will allow time to work with the community to see if recruitment issues can be resolved.

However bosses also agreed that, if this is not successful, they will go ahead and implement option two - removing consultants and leaving only a midwife-led unit for low risk births in Whitehaven.

Also, if that latter is not deemed safe, they then agreed to push ahead with option three - centralising all births in Carlisle and leaving only antenatal and postnatal care at the West Cumberland.

Stephen Childs , chief executive of the CCG, confirmed that there would now not be a need for a second public consultation.

He said: "We made a decision. There will be no further consultation on it. There may well be decisions that need to be made, and then the governing body will make them, but no further consultation.

"That's so sapping for us all, for the whole community. The energy of everyone needs to go in to making it work."

But Mahesh Dhebar, a retired consultant, believes this is wrong. "We hope it won't get to that point, but if it did I think there would have to be another consultation.

"They have agreed that but we haven't, the community. We have agreed to consultation and co-production over a 12 month period," he said.

Although the temporary reprieve for maternity has been welcomed, many fear 12 months will not be long enough to attract staff. Mr Dhebar had previously called for three to five years.

But Mr Childs said having a deadline in sight will focus attention. "If we have three years there won't be the same level of energy going into it. If we set out to prove or disprove in a year then it will be a concerted effort," he said.

Success Regime boss Sir Neil McKay, who led the recent consultation, added: "There is a worry that if you allow it to drift it will then drift for a long time. One of the biggest enemies we face is uncertainty. We need a definitive way forward."