Cumberland Infirmary is a hospital in Carlisle, Cumbria England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

Under the management of the North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust, together with the West Cumberland Hospital

West Cumberland Hospital

West Cumberland Hospital is a hospital in Hensingham, a suburb of Whitehaven in Cumbria.Under the management of the North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust, together with the Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle, they serve 34,000 residents in north Cumbria....

 in Hensingham

Hensingham

Hensingham is a suburb of the Cumbrian town of Whitehaven.The village is located to the south-east of Whitehaven on the A595 road, close to the Mirehouse housing estate and Moresby Parks. It has a Spar convenience store and several pubs – including The Distressed Sailors, The Lowther Arms,...

, Whitehaven

Whitehaven

Whitehaven is a small town and port on the coast of Cumbria, England, which lies equidistant between the county's two largest settlements, Carlisle and Barrow-in-Furness, and is served by the Cumbrian Coast Line and the A595 road...

, they serve 34,000 residents in north Cumbria.

History

The present Cumberland Infirmary was the first UK Private Finance Initiative

Private Finance Initiative

The private finance initiative is a way of creating "public–private partnerships" by funding public infrastructure projects with private capital...

 hospital to be bond

Bond (finance)

In finance, a bond is a debt security, in which the authorized issuer owes the holders a debt and, depending on the terms of the bond, is obliged to pay interest to use and/or to repay the principal at a later date, termed maturity...

 financed. Health Management (Carlisle) plc, a 50/50 dedicated joint venture

Joint venture

A joint venture is a business agreement in which parties agree to develop, for a finite time, a new entity and new assets by contributing equity. They exercise control over the enterprise and consequently share revenues, expenses and assets...

 company formed by AMEC

AMEC

AMEC plc is a global consultancy, engineering and project management company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is focused on the oil and gas, minerals and metals, renewable energy, environment and infrastructure sectors and has offices in 40 countries worldwide...

 and Interserve (Facilities Management) Ltd

Interserve

Interserve plc is an international support services and construction company based in the UK, with revenue of £1.9 billion and a workforce of 50,000 people worldwide. The company is headquartered in Reading, Berkshire and is listed on the London Stock Exchange...

 was given a 45-year concession period. Designed and built by AMEC, the £87m hospital took 29 months to construct.

Consolidating the operations of three previous hospitals namely the previous Cumberland Infirmary, Carlisle City General and Carlisle City Maternity, the Cumberland Infirmary provides 444 beds for the local community. The hospital was officially opened by British Prime Minister Tony Blair

Tony Blair

Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...

, on 16 June 2000.

Incidents

On 2 June 2010, the hospital's Accident and Emergency department was put on full incident standby in the aftermath of the 2010 Cumbria shootings.