A Cumbrian health trust received £3.4m after selling off NHS land in Carlisle for housing.

The city site was one of the 20 highest value sales recorded by health trusts last year.

The list, compiled by the Health Service Journal (HSJ), has the Cumbria Partnership NHS Foundation Trust at number 18.

The land was part of the Carleton Clinic site, off Cumwhinton Road, on the edge of Carlisle.

Near to the M6, the eight hectare site was not being used for healthcare prior to the sale.

It was sold to the Homes and Community Agency - a national body allocating affordable housing sites.

A couple of years ago, the Cumbria Partnership earmarked several parcels of land on the old Garlands hospital site to be sold off.

This section of land was among them.

A trust spokesman said: "The disposal of surplus land has helped ensure the trust can continue to invest in upgrading and maintaining the facilities provided to the public.

"We have an ongoing programme of upgrades and maintenance that we deliver every year and unlocking resources from surplus land helps ensure we develop our facilities, to keep pace with modern standards and needs."

Nationally, cash-strapped NHS trusts are coming under increasing pressure to sell off unused land.

The HSJ list of land sales covers the 2017/18 period.

The highest value sale was recorded by the University College of London Foundation Trust in the capital.

Its 0.96 hectare site, at the Eastern Dental Hospital and Institute in North London, sold for £80m.

Second was the Royal Free foundation trust, also in London, which sold a five hectare site for £47.5m, while the North Bristol Trust raised £31m by selling off a 13.5 hectare site.

Others in northern England included a deal by Lancashire Care Foundation Trust to sell off nine hectares of land at Ribbleton Hospital, Preston, to Homes England for £3.2m.