BURNLEY Health Care Trust is heading for a £3million overspend because it is treating more patients than ever before.

Finance director David Meakin told the Board yesterday that medical specialities, which could include such as the stroke unit or medical admission, had coped with bed occupancy levels of 97 per cent whilst managing a record 65 outliers a day on average in January compared with 36 a day in December.

An outlier is a patient who needs to see a particular consultant but who has to be accommodated in another area because of bed blocking.

Medical activity was running at 13 per cent higher than in the same period last year while the East Lancashire Health Authority had reiterated that no further funding was available in the current financial year as it was experiencing financial pressures in particular around primary care prescribing.

He said: "This is the highest level we have ever seen and a higher level than many other trusts we would normally compare ourselves with."

The waiting list was unchanged from December to January at 5,015 on the inpatient and day case lists, 12 per cent above the target.

He reported that the number of patients waiting for over 12 months for treatment had increased from 96 to 130 but there were no patients waiting longer than 15 months.

Some operations had been cancelled because of medical patients being situated on surgical wards. Mr Meakin said some operations had not taken place because beds were not available.

Chief executive David Chew said: "In the week of January 28 we had 379 admissions, more than 50 a day compared to our average of about 30 a day. We had 100 outliers taking up beds."

He added: "We serve a population of about a quarter of a million. One in three people visit Accident and Emergency during the year. It is a heck of a demand on our service. They cope well in the circumstances. Figures are up by six per cent, we had 3,600 more people through the doors between April and January."

Frank Clifford commented: "The Trust is a victim of its own success. The more work you do, you don't necessarily get any more for it.

"We are treating more people and it is obviously costing us to get them through the system."

He asked if people were having their operation postponed more than once. Mr Chew told him: "We are talking in the low teens rather than hundreds."

Mr Meakin said that with regard to recovery of the deficit over the next two years the trust would be required to submit a formal recovery plan to the new Stategic Health Authority and that savings were currently being collated.