LONG-term sickness absences among hospital staff are decreasing, according to new figures.

In October, November and December last year, staff at the Royal Blackburn Hospital and Burnley General Hospital lost 1,586 fewer days to long-term sickness compared to the same period in 2006.

Long-term sickness is classed by the hospital as four weeks or more.

The figure of 153 staff taking long illness absences in 2006 dropped to 140 for the three-month period in 2007, while the number of days lost dropped from 8,129 to 6,534.

Hospital bosses said this showed staff were happy, despite concerns over workers leaving because of the Meeting Patients' Needs restructuring, which moved emergency care and surgery wards from Burnley to Blackburn at the beginning of November.

Earlier this month, the hospital was slammed over its £5.1 million bill for agency staff in the nine months from April to December last year - £2 million more than the same period in 2006.

Bosses blamed the high numbers of temporary staff on vacancies and increased sickness absence in the wake of the shake-up.

But Gary Graham, deputy chief executive for East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust said the latest figures were good news for patients, staff and the trust.

He said: "This means that our patients receive guaranteed quality care from our highly skilled staff and that our staff can continue to work within familiar teams.

"Reducing long-term sickness has been an area for targeted focus over the past twelve months and the figures show this effort has paid off and been worthwhile for us all but particularly our patients."

But Councillor Darren Reynolds, who is campaigning for a the changes to be reversed through the "It's Our NHS" web campaign, said: "We have also been assured that there are fewer people leaving the trust now than last year but this does not reflect what we are being told by the staff themselves, or what the spending on agency staff suggests.

"Workers remain very concerned about the pressure they are put under, and many of them are telling us that the stress is affecting their health."