SENIOR hospital bosses are preparing for a shake up as Blackpool Victoria Trust and Community Trust executive teams merge next week, ahead of a major re-organisation of Fylde health services due to take place in April 2002.

A joint statement from the chairmen of the trusts claims that the interim arrangement, which promotes Blackpool Victoria's Chief Executive David Gill to chief executive of the new combined team, will "mean that the care of patients is more streamlined" and will "save on management costs".

Philip Scully, current Community Trust chief executive who last week met Secretary of State for Social Security Alistair Darling when he toured the area, missed out on the top job.

North West regional communications officer Hugh Lamont said: "Everything will be done to ensure management job losses are absorbed through natural wastage, such as retirement."

But Philip Scully's staff said this week that nobody knew where he would be going when David Gill takes over on March 19, only that he was "taking his time to weigh up the possibilities."

Hugh Lamont added: "The implementation of these proposals next year is subject to a public consultation procedure about the dissolving of the existing management bodies and their replacement with one new trust."

However, despite the fact that this merger is described as "the first step" in the process, the public has not yet been consulted.

Hugh Lamont said: "The public have not been consulted yet, but we have used the same model that has worked well in Preston and Chorley.