THE new chief executive of the trust which will run hospitals across East Lancashire has unveiled his vision for the future.

John Thomas believes bigger will be better, and the merger of Blackburn and Burnley trusts will improve health care in the area.

A larger trust, he said, will mean larger clinical teams which make it easier to keep staff, allow more to specialise and, therefore, help improve the trust's services.

He said: "The main reason for the merger is to encourage and support further integration of clinical services across East Lancashire, where this will lead to better patient care.

"By organising hospital services on the basis of a population of 500,000, we will be better able to retain locally, in East Lancashire, the widest range of acute hospital services, and to develop services which are not currently available locally."

One example of the new clout the area had, he said, was a new laboratory planned for Queen's Park, which will mean patients no longer having to travel to Manchester, or Blackpool, for heart disease diagnosis.

The East Lancashire Hospitals Trust is being formed in the months leading up to April 2003 when it formally comes into being. Both Blackburn and Burnley trusts were given the top three-star rating in the latest Government tables published in the summer.

Mr Thomas, currently chief executive with Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley Healthcare Trust, along with trust chairman Christine Kirk, will now select around ten other members to sit on the board.

It will employ more than 6,500 staff at Blackburn Royal Infirmary, Burnley General, Queen's Park, Pendle Community Hospital and Rossendale Hospital, making it one of the biggest employers in East Lancashire.

Mr Thomas, 46, said: "Our aim is to build on the foundations laid down by the existing two trusts to become a best practice employer. Our vision is for an organisation which has a motivated and highly-skilled workforce, the make-up of which reflects the communities served by the trust, and which is committed to providing equal opportunities for all."

Last week, a report criticised Mr Thomas and other senior managers at Queen's Park for occasional 'insensitive' handling of racial issues within the obstetrics and gynaecology department.

The report recommended the merger as an opportunity to bring new equal opportunities measures, such as training on ethnic and cultural diversity for staff.

He said: "In 2000, we commissioned Lord Ouseley, an acknowledged national expert in the field of race relations, to undertake an external review into racial equality within the trust. His report helped the trust to further improve its racial equality activities and practices.

"But this new report makes it clear that we still have a way to go and that there are lessons to be learnt about racial sensitivity. We are determined to learn from this experience."

He has worked for the NHS for the last 25 years, 19 of them in East Lancashire. He is married to Jen and has two grown-up sons.