BURNLEY health chiefs are to meet with coroners in a bid to prevent future Dr Shipman-type tragedies.

The East Lancs' coroner's officer has already been asked by detectives on the Harold Shipman killing inquiry to check old records of deaths which may have been certified in Burnley.

It is believed that the killing career of evil GP Harold Shipman may have started when he was practising in Todmorden in the 1970s.

Some of the deaths may have been certified in Burnley.

A report to the East Lancashire Health Authority says that the audit report commissioned by the Chief Medical Officer following the conviction of Shipman for the murder of 15 patients in Hyde raised a number of implications in relation to deaths in the community and the way they were recorded as well as arrangementrs for the review of general practice records and recording of information about restricted drugs.

Actions planned for ELHA are:

to develop a system for the monitoring of death rates for patients registered with general practitioners

where a practitioner is considered to be an "outlier", to develop a practical system for the more detailed investigation in relation to the number of deaths of patients

to meet with coroners in East Lancashire to consider revision of the death certification system

to consider systems for the assessment of the quality of medical records and for the effective inspection of general practitioners' controlled drugs registers review the procedure for storage of medical records

contact all general practices about the store and security of controlled drugs including the need to maintain an audit trail of drugs personally administered.

Authority members will be asked to approve the implementation of the actions.

Police investigating deaths in Todmorden in which Dr Shipman had an involvement have said they are extending their inquiries in Burnley and Rochdale.

The investigation involves 35 people including 22 death certificates signed by the former doctor and 13 post mortem and inquest files.

Of those 13 Dr Shipman was with three of the people who died shortly before death.

"We are looking at two of those in more thorough detail," said the spokesperson.

It is now believed the doctor may have killed 297 patients during a 30-year-long career in Todmorden and at Hyde in Greater Manchester according to a Government report.

Shipman, 54, is serving life for murdering 15 elderly women.

The official inquiry has identified 297 of his patients who died in suspicious circumstances. The final death figure will confirm Shipman as Britain's worst serial killer.

A native of Nottingham, Shipman qualified as a GP in Leeds and started his medical career at Pontefract General Infirmary in 1970.

Four years later he joined a medical centre in Todmorden. His career was ended for a time after he was convicted of a serious addiction to pethidine, the morphine substitute. He then moved to Hyde.