THE building of state-of-the-art facilities at Burnley General Hospital took another leap forward at a 'topping out' ceremony.

The event saw Linda Whitfield, head of nursing for medicine, put the final touches to the last piece of concrete that will form the Phase 5 development.

She was joined by members of Catalyst, the private finance consortium helping East Lancashire NHS Trust to build and manage the development, members from builders Bovis, representatives of lend lease facilities and estates management; the chief executive and chairman of the East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust and members of the Patients' Forum.

The new modern buildings will replace the ageing Victorian hospital. The main objective of the Phase 5 development is to bring together care of the elderly and general medical services at Burnley General Hospital in modern facilities.

The area will also include new services so patients will no longer need to travel further afield.

The new buildings will open in June 2006.