A HEALTH boss today called on the NHS to ban staff using mobile phones while driving.

Dr Steve Morton, director of public health at the Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley NHS Trust, also called for health staff, at all levels, to set good examples of driving.

He spoke out as it was revealed that the 9,000 people killed, or injured, on Lancashire's roads every year cost the county's NHS services around £370million.

Road casualties take up to six per cent of the county's accident and emergency beds.

Dr Morton said: "We are the people who often have to pick up the pieces and, as the NHS, we should be setting the example of good driving to the public.

"Many, many parts of the NHS involve journeys on the road, and I think all departments should be pushing the message forward of safe driving.

"I also think that the use of mobile phones in cars should be wiped out.

"A lot of people use hands-free kits but, in my opinion, they can be just as bad because they can distract drivers when they should be concentrating on the road.

"The person at the end of the phone doesn't know what conditions the driver is in when he speaks on a hands-free kit.

"Managers and consultants need to be making the message clear that people should not be talking on phones in cars."

And he threw his weight behind the mass introduction of speed cameras across Lancashire.

He said: "My feeling is that they are making the roads safer because people aren't speeding. We are not yet in a position to compare year on year, but the feeling is that things are getting better in terms of casualties."

Dr Morton spoke at a seminar on road safety by the Lancashire Partnership for Road Safety.

At it, he said: "Health professionals, whose work makes them all too aware of the injury consequences of failing to comply with seatbelt regulations, can also play an important role in the prevention of casualties by helping to educate the public.

"We need to give consistent messages to all road users on the dangers of speeding, drink driving and the importance of seatbelts and child restraints."