LIVES could have been put at risk by thieves who cut phone lines running to Royal Blackburn Hospital so they could steal copper wiring.

Phone lines went down at the Haslingden Road hospital at around teatime on Saturday and communications links were still being repaired today.

Vandals are thought to have severed communication cables at an undisclosed location on the hospital site just before 6pm - and their actions have been condemned by hospital officials.

Bosses have confirmed that their phone lines have been severely disrupted' and appealed for people to only contact them in an emergency.

Emergency communications between ambulances and the hospital, and the internal paging system used by doctors, are said to have been unaffected by the attack.

Jo Cubbon, chief executive of East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust spokesman, said: "Whoever has done this could have put lives at risk, if we did not have such robust and efficient contingency plans in place."

An East Lancashire Hospital spokesman said that vital time was spent dealing with the communications difficulties which should have been used tending to patients.

Mobile phones were issued to those who needed to make outgoing calls.

All calls for the Blackburn hospital have been redirected to Burnley General Hospital's switchboard and messages will be passed on to Blackburn.

Mrs Cubbon added: "If people's enquiry is routine and can wait please can they help us by calling back once the system is up and running again.

"It is important that calls are kept to a minimum at this time and the public's co-operation is vital."

Phone lines at Darwen Health Centre were also down for a time but this was due to a computer fault.

Pregnant women who normally use direct dial numbers for the maternity ward are being asked to ring the switchboard on 01254 263555