A HEALTH Trust today admitted that job vacancies in East Lancashire's hospitals were giving cause for concern after rising dramatically.

The NHS Performance Indicators show that vacancies at both the Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley NHS Trust and the Burnley NHS Trust are well above the national average. East Lancashire Health Authority also has less GPs per 100,000 people than the rest of the country -- although patients have better access to them.

The report also reveals that life expectancy for women in East Lancashire is among the lowest in the country.

Women in the area can expect to live to 77, compared to the national average of 80.

More than 85 per cent of the area can see a doctor within two days of an appointment compared to 80 per cent nationally.

Health bosses have pledged to fill hospital vacancies and have drafted in specialists from abroad.

Last year Spanish nurses were brought to the county and a recruitment day was held to encourage consultants from abroad.

Peter Lewenz, deputy director for performance management at East Lancashire Health Authority, said: "Clearly there is an issue in attracting people to the area, particularly specialist staff, which we are looking at.

"One of the main areas of concern is attracting GPs. Over the years those that have retired have not been replaced and that needs addressing."

The figures show that East Lancashire Health Authority has 50.8 GPs per 100,000 compared to the national average 57.4. The figure is a 4.4 per cent drop from last year, when the authority had 53.2 GPs.

In Blackburn, the number of vacant qualified health professionals posts is up 15.9 per cent on last year at 3.7 per cent.

In Blackburn, Hyndburn and the Ribble Valley -- which achieved maximum three stars in a recent service rating survey -- the figures are also high.

There are 8.7 per cent of consultancy posts available in the Trust -- higher than the national average of three per cent and a rise of 20.5 per cent on last year.

The number of posts in qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff stands at 2.2 per cent, 45 per cent up from last year, but down on the national average.

The figures for Burnley show that eight per cent of all qualified health professional posts have been vacant for three months -- compared to the national average of 4.3 per cent.

Last year there were no posts available. The vacancy rate for consultants is 6.3 per cent, compared to a national average of three per cent. The figure is a rise of 175.8 per cent from last year.

Qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff in Burnley also had a rise in vacancies with 0.8 per cent of posts vacant -- up 20.4 per cent on last year.

But that figure is significantly lower than the national average of 3.4 per cent.

The number of deaths within 30 days of surgery has fallen in Blackburn, Hyndburn and the Ribble Valley by 19.9 per cent, at 2,315 in every 100,000. In Burnley, that figure is 2,941, down 5.6 per cent from last year.

And 100 per cent of breast cancer patients are seen within two weeks of referral from a GP in both Blackburn and Burnley -- up on the national average of 96 per cent.