PATIENTS are having a say in the future of a Blackpool hospital as services are moved away from the site, NHS bosses insist.

Staff and patients are currently discussing plans to redevelop services at Devonshire Road Hospital, Devonshire Road, the hospital says.

Some services, such as renal, are due to be sent to other sites over the next 12 months, so that

Devonshire Road can be used instead for an overhaul of the Fylde Coast's mental health services.

The hospital currently provides a range of services, including renal, dermatology, occupational therapy and physiotherapy services.

These are likely to be rehomed by next autumn at Clifton, Lytham and Fleetwood hospitals, Blackpool Technology Park, the former Inland Revenue offices on Plymouth Road, Blackpool and offices at Furness Drive, Poulton. But hospital bosses say the public is being kept informed, and say changes are in response to a medical surgical services review, published in 2001, which followed public consultation, the hospital says.

"It the review indicated that Devonshire Road Hospital would eventually be vacated and the site redeveloped to provide better healthcare facilities for patients," said a spokesman for Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre Hospitals NHS Trust.

And Mike Gallagher, the trust's director of facilities, said: "This is about improving health services for local people. The original Devonshire Road Hospital was built in the 1890s and is no longer suitable for delivering healthcare in the 21st Century.

"All of the services that are currently provided from the Devonshire Road Hospital site will be transferred to better accommodation or more appropriate locations. This will allow the site to be redeveloped."

Finlay Robertson, chief executive of the Lancashire Care NHS Trust, which provides mental health services across Lancashire, added: "There has long been a need to improve mental health services for the people of the Fylde Coast. The availability of land on the Devonshire Road Hospital site provides enormous opportunities for the design of purpose-built facilities and this is exciting news for those who use and deliver mental health services."

He said a feasibility study would now look at the 'optimum use' of the site.

"We will be keeping the public fully informed throughout this process," he said.

"Whilst we do not have any firm dates for these services to be relocated it is vital that we keep staff and patients as fully informed as possible."