Health services in north Cumbria have been given a welcome boost.

Two separate announcements revealed cash injections for vital services helping residents living in north and west Cumbria.

In August, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a £20m investment to protect hospices and palliative care services, which support about 200,000 people at the end of their lives.

The new investment is designed to help keep many of these facilities – which receive the majority of their funding from the voluntary sector – open and will also improve the quality of end of life care, ensuring people die as comfortably as possible.

The money will also support the sector in relieving workforce pressures as well as introducing new services – such as out-of-hours support, respite care and specialist community teams.

It has now been revealed that £153,000 of that pot of money is going to NHS North Cumbria Clinical Commissioning Group.

While final details on how the CCG is able to spend that money have not yet been revealed, health chiefs are delighted at the vital cash.

Dr Amanda Boardman, from NHS North Cumbria Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “It is good news that we will be getting additional funding for our palliative care services in north Cumbria.

“We really value our hospice service providers and the support they offer our community.

“We’re waiting for further guidance on how these much welcome funds will support the hospice sector.”

In a separate announcement, it was confirmed that North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust - the new name following the merger of the former hospitals trust and partnership trust - is also in line for a cash windfall.

It is one of 78 trusts which, over the next two years, will receive a share of an additional £200m being ploughed into new cancer screening equipment.

The money will be used to update or introduce new equipment to improve screening and early diagnosis of cancer. This includes refurbishing and upgrading equipment including CT and MRI scanners - with lower radiation levels.

A spokesman for North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are very pleased to hear that we are one of the 78 trusts receiving funding to upgrade screening equipment which will benefit our local communities.”