THE Lancashire Evening Telegraph campaign to buy a £200,000 magic eye scanner will put the area on the North West health map, it was revealed today.

The state-of-the-art life-saving equipment will not only improve treatment for East Lancashire patients but also help to trigger the creation of a regional cancer treatment centre.

The equipment, which will be of benefit to the whole of East Lancashire, will improve diagnosis dramatically, saving patients unnecessary surgery and giving surgeons information so precise they can operate with pinpoint accuracy.

Patients with stomach and oesophageal cancer in Blackburn and Burnley have already been benefiting from moves to make the cancer service an East Lancashire-wide service in the past year.

As part of national guidelines, the units for upper gastrointestinal (upper GI) at opposite ends of the area have already begun to work together, meaning double the skills and expertise for patients.

But once the combined unit has the scanner, it will be on the road to becoming a regional unit, which would be a coup for East Lancashire's health care.

The equipment, which is currently only available in a handful of major centres around the country, could lead to patients from around Lancashire and South Cumbria being referred for treatment in East Lancashire.

Currently, patients from Blackburn and Burnley must travel to Liverpool where the equipment is available. But a regional cancer centre would open up the possibility of extra funding and put the centre on the map.

Consultant surgeon David Chang, who is based at Blackburn Royal Infirmary, said: "We would be the only one in East Lancashire to have this equipment.

"As everyone needs to have access to the equipment then we would probably see referrals from other hospitals in the Preston, Chorley and Cumbria areas.

"Obviously our first priority is to patients in East Lancashire. But there are up to 600 patients a year being treated in the area, and with the scanner, many more than that can be helped."

There is currently one consultant at Burnley and two at Blackburn, while there are two gastroenterologists at Burnley and one at Blackburn. There are also specialist nurses at each unit.

Rob Watson, consultant surgeon, who is helping develop the service, said: "We just want Blackburn and Burnley to be seen as one of the main areas.

"We already have some of the best surgeons, and we want to be up there leading the way."

The moves have been encouraged by Department of Health initiatives, which want to see regional zones working together to bring expertise and skills together, which will improve services.

Surgeons from East Lancashire already meet up twice yearly with surgeons from other parts of Lancashire and Cumbria to discuss developments and aim to increase that in the coming months.

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