NHS staff have been praised in the House of Commons by an MP who is urging people to grab the chance to help shape Leigh Infirmary's future.

Speaking in a Commons debate, in which he called for a bigger slice of health service funding for local patients, Leigh MP Andy Burnham credited the dedicated Leigh and Wigan staff for helping the Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Trust win three star status.

And he urged the Trust to take up its newly-acquired right to apply for Foundation Hospital Status which would give local people a much bigger say over the role of Leigh Infirmary.

He believes the hospital is ideally located to be expanded into a modern Diagnostic and Treatment Centre handling planned surgery and other procedures.

Mr Burnham also called on Health Secretary John Reid to allocate a bigger share of NHS resources to the borough where new figures show that the Primary Care Trust is £12m short of its target level.

He said: "Leigh Infirmary means a lot to local people and it could have an exciting future as a modern DTC. What foundation status means in practise is that it will be for us, not London-based bureaucrats, to decide how it moves forward..

"If our bid is successful I would urge all local people who care about Leigh Infirmary to take up the option of an ownership share in the NHS trust with voting powers. Staff will also get board level representation for the first time."