UNION members today said they feared the merger of East Lancashire health trusts could become a Blackburn takeover.

The joint trade union committee at Burnley General Hospital said it feared for jobs on the Burnley side if the merger goes ahead.

New project director John Thomas, chief executive of Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley NHS trust, will move to Burnley General Hospital in the next two weeks to start putting the merger details together.

Unions from both sides have already expressed concerns over the prospect of services being merged on to either site leading to job losses and the dominance of one town.

Now the Burnley branch has said in a statement: "While centres of excellence will be created, which is good for the people of East Lancashire, most of the departmental amalgamations which have already taken place are now Blackburn led, with staff in some departments such as financial services and the community information unit, actually having to transfer to Queen's Park Hospital at Blackburn.

"We believe the merger should be a partnership and not a takeover by any one individual hospital trust."

Raymond Stackhouse, chairman of Staff Side, the organisation which represents staff interests, said: "This ultimately means a loss of jobs for the Burnley area, which is of great concern to us in the present climate of job losses in East Lancashire."

The merger, which should come into force in April 2003, will see Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley NHS trust, and Burnley Healthcare NHS Trust merge on the management and administration side, after Health Minister Lord Hunt gave the go-ahead for the proposal.

Many have seen the move as inevitable, as the trusts have already combined their work on services such as opthalmology (eye services), led by Burnley, and Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT), led by Blackburn. The aim is to create centres of excellence, which will attract and retain staff, and could also help to cut some costs.

Mr Thomas said: "The unions say the merger should be a partnership and I fully support that view. I think it is very important that the merger is not seen as a takeover of one trust of the other.

"Over recent years the trusts have worked ever closer together to develop strong East Lancashire wide clinical services.

"In some the Burnley trust has taken the lead and in others, Blackburn has.

"As project director it is my job to reassure staff in Burnley that the merger will not be a takeover by the Blackburn trust.

"I will shortly be moving to Burnley General Hospital where the merger project office will be based. This will give me the opportunity to meet staff and to try and allay their fears.

"I think it is important that we maintain a balance between the two trusts and that the proposed merger is seen as a partnership."

The project board, which will include Staff Side representatives and be chaired by Burnley chairman Azhar Ali, will prepare a detailed plan and consultation document, ahead of public consultation, which is expected to start this spring.

If public consultation goes well and Health Secretary Alan Milburn gives the new single trust his backing, the trusts will officially merge on April 1, 2003. Management say the merger will not affect the way clinical services, which will still be provided from Burnley General Hospital, Queen's Park Hospital and Blackburn Royal Infirmary, are managed.

Although at the moment organisers are tight-lipped about how the changes affect staff, there will be only one trust board running the organisation and only one chief executive.

Although Mr Thomas has been appointed to head the project, no decision has yet been made whether the chief executive of the new merged trust will be Mr Thomas or Burnley chief executive David Chew.