SUPPORTERS of Burnley General Hospital's accident and emergency ward say a study highlighting the dangers of remote casualty departments echoes their fears over urgent care for patients.

Research by the Emergency Medicine Journal reveals that the further critically-ill patients have to travel by ambulance, the greater the risk of them becoming a fatality.

For every six extra miles travelled, the chances of a critically-ill patient dying increases by one per cent, according to the study, conducted by the medical care research unit at the University of Sheffield.

And with the Burnley hospital's casualty department being downgraded to a critical care unit - and all blue-light emergencies being dealt with 10 miles away at the Royal Blackburn Hospital - health campaigners fear their predictions may come true.

Hospitals protester Councillor Gordon Birtwistle, leader of Burnley Council, said: "I am just glad the Emergency Medicine Journal is saying what we have been saying for the past two years.

"All of our objections and protests have been aimed at convincing the hospital board that lives are going to be put at risk."

Health professionals have questioned the validity of the study, which analysed 10,000 cases over four ambulance trust areas between 1997 and 2001.

Geraint Jones, clinical services medical director at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, said the study only looked at a narrow group of patients and paramedics now provided immediate treatment.

Mr Jones said: "The real point here is not how far the patient will have to travel, but the quality of care that they receive when the ambulance arrives and the quality of care they receive at the hospital."

He added: "The East Lancashire configuration is designed to make things better for our patients and we must not forget that there will be an urgent care centre in Burnley.

"Other studies, looking at other conditions, such as trauma and ruptured aneurysms and road traffic accidents, have failed to show any relationship between the time to hospital and mortality."

A spokesman for the Ambulance Services Authority, speaking on behalf of the North West Ambulance Services NHS Trust, said: "This study was done six years ago before major improvements in A&E services had been felt by NHS patients.

"The treatment of an emergency starts when the ambulance response arrives. Paramedics and nurses are much more than a patient taxi service. Many ambulance staff are trained to assess, diagnose and provide treatment at the scene."

An extra three ambulance vehicles, alongside more than 30 additional staff, will arrive for East Lancashire as part of the Meeting Patients Needs programme, transferring services between the Blackburn and Burnley hospitals.