BURNLEY General Hospital has suffered a fresh blow after health chiefs revealed two medical wards are being transferred to Blackburn.

NHS chiefs have confirmed that Wards 12 and 14, part of the phase five development at Burnley General, will make way for a planned new paediatric and maternity unit at the Briercliffe Road hospital.

The work of the wards will be transferred to the Royal Blackburn Hospital from November as it assumes responsibility for emergency medical care under the meetings patients needs programme.

Opponents of the changes say it is another example of services being stripped from Burnley and said it would mean relatives would have to travel further to visit loved ones in hospital But trust bosses hit back saying the transfer of beds made perfect sense in light of the wider shake-up.

Leader of Burnley Council Gordon Birtwistle, who earlier this month led a 12-hour vigil outside Burnley General protesting at the cuts, said: "This is just the latest episode in the continuing demise of our hospital.

"If the trust is arguing that most of the emergency cases can still be dealt with at Burnley then why are they moving two full medical wards away to Blackburn? This is death by a thousand cuts."

Vice Chair of the Public and Patient Involvement Forum Helen Hedges, said: "These changes are going to result in many people having to make longer journeys, whether they be patients or people visiting patients and it is something that continues to concern us greatly."

Planned surgery, which currently takes place at the Blackburn hospital, will be moving to the Burnley site as part of the same initiative.

Earlier this summer the Lancashire Telegraph asked the trust if there were any plans to close the wards after concerns were raised.

But a spokesman for the trust at the time denied this was the case and yesterday said it may have been a misunderstanding.

A spokesman for the trust said: "There will be more general medical beds at the Royal Blackburn Hospital - and there's a good reason for that.

"Around 70-80 per cent of general medical admissions come in through accident and emergency, so you'd naturally expect to see more of those beds where the emergency department is.

"And as we plan to make the Royal Blackburn a UK Centre of Excellence for emergency care, that's why there will be more general medical beds at the site.

"There will, of course, still be general medical beds at Burnley General Hospital, but the point here is not about which hospital has more beds - it's about giving patients the right treatment at the right time by the right person - and some of that may not be at hospital at all, it could be in the community or even at home."

Accident and emergency facilities at the Burnley hospital will be downgraded to an urgent care centre no later than November 1.

Hospital chiefs say it will still deal with 85 per cent of the cases it does at present - but campaigners fear lives will be lost and patient care compromised as people are transported to the Royal Blackburn Hospital for emergency treatment.

Burnley Hospital's A&E department will change to become an urgent care centre, which will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

All in-patient emergency, surgical emergency, trauma and intensive care beds, alongside emergency assessment work, fracture and trauma clinics and vascular surgery, will also be located at Blackburn.

Under the plans urgent care centres will be established at both the Blackburn and Burnley sites.

All orthopaedics, general surgery and breast services will shift to Burnley General.

Only paediatric in-patients will remain at Blackburn - a day-time observation unit will continue at Burnley and a similar 24-hour unit is planned for Blackburn.

Planned changes to maternity and obstetrics medicine, and the creation of a midwife-led birthing centre at Burnley begin in December, with the in-patient gynaecology services moving to Burnley by March or April.