HEALTH watchdogs and MPs have welcomed news that the health trusts for Blackburn and Burnley are to merge but have warned it must not be at the expense of separate casualty units and hospital services.

Health Minister Lord Hunt gave the go-ahead to plans to merge Burnley NHS Healthcare Trust -- which runs Burnley General Hospital -- and Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley NHS Trust -- which runs Queen's Park Hospital and Blackburn Royal Infirmary -- by 2003.

The merger will be on an administrative and management basis and organisers stress it should not affect clinical services.

Chief officer with Burnley Community Health Council, Helen Gee, said the watchdog welcomed reorganisation if there was full public consultation on implications for patients. "The main thing we are concerned about is there should be equal provision across East Lancashire, as opposed to all services going to one end of the area. We would expect there still to be a general hospital for each side and two accident and emergency sites," she said.

Greg Pope, Hyndburn MP, said: "It will improve health provision for my constituents and people right across East Lancashire. At the moment some services are unnecessarily duplicated while some need to remain duplicated, such as accident and emergency and maternity. In other cases we can streamline services and increase facilities." Chief officer with Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley Community Health Council, Nigel Robinson, said: "We support the move. We have already been working towards this with some services like opthalmology and Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT). It is a local move now for an East Lancashire wide trust that, hopefully, will have benefits for patients. We intend to make sure -- for as long as we are in existence -- that it does have benefits for patients."

Foreign Secretary and Blackburn MP Jack Straw said: "It makes better sense than the current system particularly as we now share health facilities across East Lancashire. It should mean better health provision."

Blackburn chief executive John Thomas will be project director, heading a new project board to be set up in the next few weeks.

His will be to prepare a detailed plan and consultation document.

Public consultation is in spring, with a provisional merger date of April 1, 2003, if Health Secretary Alan Milburn approves the details.