2009 October 22

Burnley Council Makes New Demand for Hospitals Review

October 22nd, 2009 |

Burnley Council tonight called on both the government and the local Hospitals Trust to set up an independent expert review of how emergency hospital care is provided in East Lancashire.

The call comes after Pendle MP Gordon Prentice secured the intervention of the Prime Minister in addressing problems with East Lancashire’s inadequate Emergency Department at the Royal Blackburn Hospital.

At a full meeting of the Council, councillors of all four political parties voted unanimously to support a motion put forward by health scrutiny member Coun Darren Reynolds asking both the Trust and the Secretary of State to have outside experts give a second opinion on whether Burnley should have its own Accident and Emergency department.

Councillors wanted to know why smaller pairs of towns elsewhere in Lancashire and Yorkshire had independent units that are able to keep to their budgets, meet government targets and win national recognition for providing the best treatment for patients. Councillors poured scorn on suggestions that Blackburn was big enough to provide a service for the whole of East Lancashire, saying that the evidence time and again proved otherwise.

Coun Darren Reynolds said, “The hospitals bosses have said publicly that they respect the democratic process. I believe it is now for them to prove that by accepting the unanimous request of Burnley Council and setting up the review we have been demanding since the chaos in Blackburn began, two years ago.

“It may prove that only extra money will permit Burnley to have its own facilities. If so, then the government needs to respond. Burnley people and their local representatives will always prioritise public health over illegal foreign wars, useless ID cards and disastrous defence procurement projects. This money must be spent instead on helping people to stay fit and healthy, and that is what we expect our government to do.”